Halting social media harm requires national solution

THE federal Liberal government’s proposed legislation to ban or restrict social media access for children under 16 appears to be a sensible approach to one of the most difficult public policy challenges of the digital age.

Whether Canadians ultimately support a ban, limited restrictions or exemptions for platforms that can demonstrate adequate safeguards, one thing is becoming increasingly clear: if governments are going to regulate children’s access to social media, it makes far more sense to do it at the federal level than through a patchwork of provincial laws.

That’s particularly relevant in Manitoba, where the provincial government has been exploring its own options to restrict social media use among young people.

The intentions are understandable. Parents, educators, health-care professionals and policymakers are becoming increasingly alarmed about the effects social media is having on many children and teenagers.

Concerns about anxiety, depression, cyberbullying, self-harm, eating disorders, online predators and exposure to harmful content are no longer fringe issues. They have become mainstream concerns backed by a growing body of research and first-hand observations from doctors, teachers and parents.

Governments are under pressure to act. The challenge is figuring out how.

Social media platforms operate across provincial borders, national borders and, in many cases, around the globe. Facebook doesn’t function differently in Manitoba than it does in Ontario. Instagram doesn’t stop at the Saskatchewan border. TikTok doesn’t create separate versions of its service for each province.

Trying to regulate these platforms province by province would create a complicated and potentially unworkable system.

More importantly, many children are exceptionally adept at navigating technology. If one jurisdiction creates barriers while another does not, workarounds are likely to emerge quickly. Virtual private networks, false age declarations and other methods could easily undermine provincial efforts.

A national framework would not eliminate those challenges, but it would at least establish consistent rules across the country.

That is one reason the federal government’s proposal deserves serious consideration.

The legislation would require social media companies to block access for children under 16 unless they can obtain exemptions by demonstrating sufficient safeguards. It would also establish oversight mechanisms, regulate certain AI chatbot services and create a new Digital Safety Commission of Canada to oversee compliance.

There are legitimate questions about how this would work in practice.

Age verification remains one of the biggest hurdles. Governments want to keep children off potentially harmful platforms while protecting the privacy of Canadians. Those goals can sometimes conflict.

Nobody wants to create a system that requires millions of Canadians to upload sensitive personal information simply to access online services. Yet any restriction that relies entirely on self-reported ages is unlikely to be effective.

The federal government appears to recognize this challenge by avoiding a rigid age-verification model and allowing flexibility for discussions with platforms about privacy-protective solutions.

That may prove to be the most practical path forward.

Critics will argue that social media restrictions infringe on personal freedom and parental responsibility. Some will say parents, not governments, should decide whether their children can use social media.

There is merit to that argument.

But there is also a growing recognition that modern social media platforms are not simply digital gathering spaces. Their algorithms are specifically designed to maximize engagement and keep users scrolling for as long as possible. Young people, whose brains are still developing, are particularly vulnerable to those designs.

Even many parents who carefully monitor their children’s online activity find themselves fighting a losing battle against sophisticated platforms backed by some of the largest technology companies in the world.

That doesn’t automatically justify government intervention. But it does explain why policymakers are increasingly exploring it.

The reality is that nobody knows with certainty what the perfect solution looks like. Technology evolves rapidly. New platforms emerge constantly. Today’s safeguards may be obsolete tomorrow.

What governments should avoid is creating a fragmented regulatory landscape that makes an already difficult challenge even more complicated.

If Canada is going to impose age restrictions or safety requirements on social media companies, those rules should apply consistently from coast to coast to coast.

Children in Manitoba face the same online risks as children in British Columbia, Ontario or Nova Scotia. Parents across the country share many of the same concerns. Technology companies operate nationally and internationally.

A national problem requires a national response.

The federal government’s proposal is unlikely to satisfy everyone. It will face scrutiny from privacy advocates, technology companies, civil-liberties groups and parents.

It will undoubtedly be amended and debated extensively before becoming law.

But as a starting point, it recognizes an important principle: when it comes to regulating global social media platforms, Canada is far better served by one coherent national framework than by a patchwork of provincial rules that create confusion, inconsistency and loopholes.

If restrictions on social media for children under 16 are deemed necessary, they should be implemented nationally, not province by province. That may be the only approach that has a realistic chance of working.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca