Overview
- Online-safety experts in Canada, weighing in Thursday as federal and Manitoba proposals advance, said under‑16 bans would not keep most kids off social apps.
- They point to Australia’s under‑16 rule, where early reporting shows about 70% of underage users kept accounts within three months of the December 2025 rollout.
- The proposed limits would not fix platform design features that drive harm, such as autoplay and recommendation feeds, and could push teens to less regulated spaces and discourage them from reporting problems.
- Enforcing age limits would require ID checks or AI age scans, creating broad data and surveillance risks, with one recent example being a Discord age‑verification vendor breach that exposed 70,000 credentials.
- Legal scholars warn a blanket ban could face Charter challenges over children’s rights, and advocates instead call for sustained research, enforceable safety‑by‑design rules with algorithm transparency, and digital‑media literacy for families and schools.