Pass online safety bill now, advocate urges MPs

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OTTAWA — Time’s up.

That’s the message children’s safety advocates have for the federal government, as the House of Commons begins second-reading debate Wednesday on Bill C-34, Ottawa’s long-awaited online safety bill.

“It’s not the children’s fault. It’s not the parents’ fault,” said Children First Canada founder and CEO Sara Austin in an interview with the Toronto Sun. “It’s the fault of these companies who know that they’re profiting off of harming our children … it’s gone on too long, and time is up.”

C-34 is government’s third attempt at online harms bill

Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, was tabled in the House in June.

The bill would block children from harmful content, require service providers to make child sexual abuse material and non-consensual intimate images inaccessible, and compel AI chatbot operators and other platforms to label synthetic content.

The bill would also create the Digital Safety Commission of Canada, a new regulatory body to monitor and enforce the new rules.

If passed, C-34 would position Canada as one of the first in a growing number of nations restricting access to most social media platforms and user-contributed online streaming services to those over the age of 16.

Australia was the first to ban those under the age of 16 from social media services, which included Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook.

That was followed by Brazil, which now requires kids to associate their social media accounts with those of their parents and forces platforms to prevent youth from “doomscrolling,” with nations such as Denmark and Austria announcing similar bans of their own.

Canadians running out of patience, advocates warn

Under the bill, platforms can apply for exemptions if they can prove “adequate” safeguards are in place to protect youth, but officials provided no details on how this may work.

Speaking with the Sun, Austin said Canadians have run out of patience after years of false starts — including the government’s previous online harms bill, C-63, which died on the order paper when the last federal election was called.

“It’s been 14 years since Amanda Todd died tragically,” Austin said.

“Fourteen years of dithering on Parliament Hill, and it’s clear at this moment in time that parents and children won’t accept the status quo any longer.”

She said it’s up to MPs from all parties to rise above partisanship and pass C-34 without delay, adding that while the bill is a good first step, more needs to be done — including expanding the scope to include online gaming and messaging platforms such as Roblox and Discord, rather than relying on regulation down the line.

She also wants penalties with teeth — strong enough so that corporate offenders can’t shrug them off as the “cost of doing business,” and are punished for profiting from harm.

“This is a generational piece of legislation that can change change the course of history for our kids, and that’s not overstating it,” she said.

“This is really a significant moment in time for our children and for our country.”

bpassifiume@postmedia.com
X: @bryanpassifiume

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