Prime Minister Carney says his government will push ahead this fall with sweeping social media regulations that would create a new federal Digital Safety Commission and impose new rules on online platforms.
“We are fighting for Canada to lead the world in building the smart, safe digital tools of the next decade,” Carney told Liberal MPs ahead of Parliament’s return.
“This fall we will press ahead with the Act to protect Canadians online,” he said.
Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, was introduced by Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller in June.
The legislation would create a Digital Safety Commission with regulatory and enforcement powers over the online platforms covered.
It would require regulated platforms to address seven categories of “harmful content,” including child sexual exploitation, any content that ‘foments hatred’, incites violence or promotes terrorism or violent extremism.
The legislation also targets content that “undermines, weakens or destroys fundamental institutions or political, economic or social stability in Canada” when it could cause a serious risk to the health or safety of the public.
Carney focused his remarks Friday on protecting children online, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
“Children are falling victim to sexual abuse, cyberbullying and extreme violence online,” he said. “The current status quo is failing our kids, and we’ll not stand by it.”
The bill would also prohibit children under 16 from holding accounts on regulated social media services and require platforms to use age-verification or age-estimation measures, potentially entailing that adults would need to show ID to surf the web.
University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist has warned the legislation bundles widely supported child-safety measures with a powerful new regulator and potentially intrusive age-verification requirements.
Geist described C-34 as an “everything-at-once” approach combining elements of the former Online Harms Act with an under-16 social media ban, pornography age verification, AI chatbot regulation and the Digital Safety Commission.
Canadian Constitution Foundation litigation director Christine Van Geyn has raised similar concerns about the bill’s potential impact on expression.
“This bill is a sneak attack on our constitutionally protected right to free expression,” Van Geyn said.
“The government knows it cannot directly ban unpopular, rude, divisive, transgressive or even offensive speech, so it is outsourcing this censorship role to online platforms by creating a regulatory chill.”
The legislation follows two previous Liberal attempts to overhaul online regulation.
Bill C-36 was introduced in 2021 but died when that year’s federal election was called. Bill C-63, the Online Harms Act, was introduced in 2024 but did not become law.
Miller acknowledged in June that the government wrestled with where to draw the line in the latest legislation.
“We had long policy discussions about what should be in and out of this bill,” he said. “It’s a trade-off. There are reasonable restrictions on rights in this country.”
Carney has nevertheless made it clear that the government intends to press ahead this fall.
“We’re safeguarding the digital world so young people can be free and safe when they’re navigating it,” he said.
Conman couldn’t care less about Canada or Canadians. He is simply worried that his lemming followers might start to open their eyes and see what a corrupt dictator he is.
But they let rapists and other criminals out on bail/house arrest so it doesn’t hurt their asylum claim but Liberals say they care about kids! What a freakin joke. Immigrant in Brampton paid $140 for a 15 year old girl, got caught by Peel Police and got house arrest for 3 months as punishment! This country under the disastrous power & control Liberals is dumpster fire! Censorship not safety is their focus and we all know it! They need to go asap so we can recover the damage of last 11 years!