OTTAWA – The Canadian government has introduced Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, aimed at strengthening protections for children online and holding social media services and AI chatbots more accountable. The proposed legislation would bar children under 16 from having social media accounts, while allowing services to seek exemptions if they can demonstrate sufficient safeguards for children. It would also require regulated platforms to identify and address risks, reduce children’s exposure to harmful content and high-risk interactions, label synthetically generated content, and provide users with clear tools to flag harmful material and block others. The bill would establish a new Digital Safety Commission to enforce the rules, oversee compliance, support victims of online harms and issue penalties against services that fail to meet their obligations.