Miller says government moving quickly but no timeline for new digital regulator

Culture Minister Marc Miller says while he shares concerns about how long the government’s new digital regulator will take to set up, he’s unable to say exactly when that will happen.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Miller said the government is moving as quickly as possible on digital safety bill C-34, which includes a ban on social media for kids.

Miller spoke at McGill University’s Democracy, Rebuilt conference in Montreal on Thursday. The conference also heard from Alex Munter, head of the Canadian Medical Association, who said he was concerned about the timeline.

When the bill was introduced, government officials said it would take 18 months to set up the regulator. The bill would be administered by the new Digital Safety and Data Protection Commission of Canada.

“Eighteen months in Ottawa is like three years,” Munter said. “We don’t have that kind of time … Parents want these toxic products out of their children’s hands now.”

Miller said in the interview he is “equally, if not more concerned, than Alex.”

He said he wants to “get things in place as quickly as possible” but isn’t able to offer a specific timeline.

In his speech, Miller talked about the dangers social media poses to kids, pointing to algorithms designed to keep kids scrolling and companies that have made kids addicted to their products.

He said sexually explicit deepfakes are shared without consent and children are targeted by predators and violent networks that encourage them to “hurt themselves or even take their own lives.”

“If this were occurring in a playground, the playground would be swarmed by police and shut down,” he said.

Miller added that instances of AI chatbots telling users how to carry out a shooting, hurt someone or take their own life “aren’t hypothetical risks or scenarios. They’re real examples that have occurred.”

Bill C-34 was introduced in June and is up for second reading in the House of Commons. If it passes second reading, it must make its way through a House of Commons committee study and through the Senate before it can become law.

The new regulator the bill would create would have five members appointed by cabinet with the authority to issue binding orders to organizations and levy fines.

It would be in charge of making decisions about whether age-verification methods used by companies are effective and respect people’s privacy, and whether social media platforms qualify for exemptions to the age ban.

Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant told the conference a regulator will take time to establish.

Australia became the first country to introduce a social media ban for kids in December 2025. Grant said Australia’s regulator is now looking into non-compliance or “malicious compliance” by tech platforms.

She said before the law came into force, one platform told underage users the ban was imminent and asked if they were sure they weren’t 16 — before letting about 130,000 users through. Another gave users more than two dozen chances daily to pass third-party age estimation software tests.

Miller said he’s not “naive” about the possibility of industry pushback but he expects the Canadian regulator to have a healthy back and forth with industry.

“It has to be dynamic, fluid, and can have relationships that are built,” he said.

Miller added the government has seen “what’s happened in other countries. Malicious compliance, I believe, is real.”

Miller said Thursday he is open to making changes to the bill.

“I’ve heard throughout the summer, talking to organizations, doctors, parents, groups, kids, and where they feel this could be stronger, and I am sensitive to that,” he said in the interview.

“There is an increased concern with certain aspects of gaming that has some features that are social media-like, so the compliance of those platforms is of concern to me.”