Canada stands by proposed youth social media ban after Meta U.S. settlement

The federal government says it is standing by its proposed legislation that would include a social media ban for users under 16 years old after Meta agreed to implement new rules for kids as part of a nearly US$18-billion settlement with U.S. states this week.

Besides the money, which will be paid out over a decade, Meta has agreed to strengthen its age estimates to keep kids under 13 off its platforms — including Facebook and Instagram — and teens in age-appropriate accounts. It will also enact a hard limit of two hours a day for users under 18, block kids from the apps from midnight to 6 a.m., and hide “like” counts, among other changes.

Meta said the new safeguards will only apply in the U.S., with most in place for 10 years.

A spokesperson for Canadian Heritage told Global News in a statement Thursday that it will still move ahead with Bill C-34, dubbed the Safe Social Media Act, which was tabled in June and would require social media companies to restrict Canadians under 16 from their platforms.

“The Government of Canada remains steadfast in its commitment to Bill C-34,” the department said.

“As the bill continues through the legislative process, we expect platforms to act responsibly and proactively take concrete steps to ensure their products are safe by design, for children and for all users. The government is committed to acting as quickly as possible to better protect our children.”

The Safe Social Media Act aims to create a “duty to protect children” for all online platforms that will require social media and artificial intelligence chatbot platforms to incorporate age-appropriate designs, including content warning labels, safe search settings for children, and measures to reduce addictive behaviours like endless scrolling.

Social media companies will also have to label bot-driven harmful content and “deepfakes,” or synthetic content.

Experts have told Global News the youth social media ban will likely narrow over time, with the government using a “carrot and stick” incentive for platforms to improve their designs and better protect children long-term.

The bill would set up a new digital safety commission that would enforce the legislation, and dole out exemptions to social media platforms from the youth ban based on whether they meet yet-to-be-defined “adequate safeguards” to protect kids.

Meta told Global News in a statement Thursday that, while the changes announced as part of Wednesday’s statement are U.S.-specific, it will monitor their effectiveness and “engage in productive dialogue with other governments to support age-appropriate experiences on our platforms.”

The company added that it already has “strong protections in place for teens” and parental controls for global users and that other apps like TikTok and YouTube “must join our efforts to establish a new standard of protection.”

What’s behind the Meta changes?

Meta’s changes “are not the win that people think it is,” according to Evan Light, associate professor at the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto.

“It’s a settlement between Meta and 52 attorneys general in the United States, where Meta doesn’t admit to any liability,” he said. “This is a settlement with the majority of states in the United States for only $18 billion. And so, in terms of just the resources, I don’t think it will go all that far.”

On March 26, New Mexico became the first U.S. state to find Meta liable for “misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms and endangering children.”

Meta was ordered by the jury to pay the maximum penalty under the law of $5,000 per violation, totaling $375 million in civil penalties for violating New Mexico’s consumer protection laws.

Brett Callaway, interim director at the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology at the University of Toronto, also does not believe Meta’s changes come out of good faith.

However, there are still downsides to the changes.

“I don’t think that this necessarily will solve all of our problems. You still will have younger users using the platform and you’ll be priming them to continue on as consumers of the platform as they grow older,” Callaway said. “These negative effects aren’t just limited to children.”

Regardless, Callaway noted Meta’s adjustments are a “pretty big change.”

“The idea here is to try and make the platform at least for younger users, more purposeful and intentional,” he said.

Should Canada adopt similar social media changes?

When it comes to potential Canadian changes, Light believes “we should try and learn from the American mistakes.”

“The court ruling in New Mexico was the only example I’ve seen where some part of in this case, the court, which is somewhat immune from politics, said we’re going to impose changes to the way that Facebook operates internally in the state of New Mexico,” he added.

“All these other things don’t actually change the way things function. They change the ways that teens can consume social media, but they don’t change what it is they’re consuming.”

Callaway also suggested that the effects social media has taken on Canadian youth may not be easy to erase.

“Limited attention span and then this sort of endless cycle of seeking out validation on social media platforms, that’s never really going to disappear.”

—With files from Global’s Touria Izri