Safe Social Media Act

Bill C-34, Safe Social Media Act · Second reading · now at committee in the House Where it stands

What Bill C-34 would do

The bill would create the Digital Safety Act and set up the Digital Safety Commission of Canada to oversee it. Operators of regulated social media and chatbot services would have to mitigate exposure to harmful content, label synthetic content, and protect children through design features and age limits. Platforms would also have to remove non-consensual intimate content and child sexual abuse material, and submit digital safety plans to the commission.

Official text (opens in a new tab)

21 statements

Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages

Liberal
“I want the House to advance this online safety bill and send it to a committee. I also want permission to split my speaking time with another member.”
Official Hansard

moved that Bill C-34, An Act to enact the Digital Safety Act and the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, be read the second time and referred to a committee. He said: Mr. Speaker, I will start off by seeking unanimous consent to share my time with the member for Outremont.

Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages

Liberal
“I want the House to pass this bill to protect children online. Harm to kids on the internet is rising fast. The bill makes social media companies and AI chatbots responsible for keeping users safe. It requires them to take down the worst harmful material within 24 hours, use age checks, and keep kids under 16 off social media unless the platform proves it is safe.”
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    “First is a duty to act responsibly.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise today on Bill C-34, the safe social media act. Upon taking office, the Prime Minister pledged to protect and strengthen Canada, and that is what we are doing today. We have also remained focused on ensuring that as Canadians, we take control of our own destiny, protect what we believe in and pave the way for future generations. That starts with keeping Canadians safe, not only in their communities but online. Today, I am here to reaffirm our government’s unwavering commitment to protecting Canadians and, in particular, young Canadians. We have all seen how online harms have exploded. These harms have real consequences for our communities. We need only think of the Tumbler Ridge tragedy, which claimed eight lives, including six children, and left many more injured. The perpetrator of the shooting used OpenAI’s chatbot to get advice. Another example is the young person who was admitted to Toronto’s SickKids hospital in a catatonic state after classmates set up a site just to humiliate them. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection processes more than 100,000 reports of online child sexual abuse every month. Police-reported online child sexual exploitation incidents rose by 347% between 2014 and 2024 alone. Violent online networks are targeting our children on the platforms they use every day, encouraging them to hurt themselves or even take their own lives. If this activity happened on the playground, the playground would be shut down immediately. One in four young people say they have been cyberbullied. This represents a 500% increase since 2014. We are also witnessing a rise in mental health challenges, including anxiety, low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts. These figures are alarming. Behind every one of these statistics is a child, parents and a family. Over the summer, my colleagues on this side of the House and on the other side of the House and I met with Canadians, experts, parents and young people. Everywhere we went, we heard the same message: We need to act, and we need to act urgently. Parents, teachers and caregivers cannot be expected to face these challenges alone, nor can they be expected to take on some of the world’s most sophisticated technology companies by themselves. Urgent action is needed to hold online services accountable and to ensure that our children are safe on the platforms they are growing up with. The reality is that our laws have not kept up and kept pace with technology. Current legislation imposes penalties only after the harm has occurred, rather than preventing it in the first place. This bill, the safe social media act, would establish clear responsibilities for regulated social media services and AI chatbot services operating in Canada. It would place the onus where it belongs: on the platforms themselves. It would ensure their services are safe. This act is structured around three core duties. The first is a duty to act responsibly. Social media services would need to assess and mitigate the risks of exposure to seven categories of clear, harmful content, apply labels to synthetically generated content, build safety measures into the design of their platforms, make it easy for Canadians to report and submit complaints, and, finally, provide Canadians with better tools to keep themselves safe, such as blocking and flagging functions. AI chatbot services would have to mitigate the risk of chatbots communicating harmful content, intervene in crisis situations when a user intends to harm themselves or another person, and mitigate the risk of chatbots engaging in harmful behaviour with our children. Secondly, social media platforms would have a duty to make certain content inaccessible. Platforms would be required to remove the most serious forms of harmful content within 24 hours of it being flagged or reported. This includes content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor and intimate content communicated without consent. Third, the law would establish the duty to protect children. It would require social media and AI chatbot services to implement age-appropriate safeguards. This means building safety into the design of their services and ensuring that children are not exposed to high-risk interactions or harmful content. This includes an obligation for regulated services to prevent children from accessing pornographic content on their services. For regulated social media platforms, this would also mean having a responsibility to prevent children under the age of 16 from having social media accounts. This approach was requested by parents and educators almost unanimously. It is in line with the emerging international approaches to online safety, but this design is made for Canadians. We expect platforms to adopt age verification and age estimation measures that meet the highest standards of security and privacy protection. However, the age restriction is just one of the measures in this bill, because we know that the best way to protect young people is to design online spaces to be safe. That is why social media platforms that put sufficient safeguards in place will be able to seek an exemption from the age restriction. Finally, regulated services will need to be transparent with Canadians and publish digital safety plans detailing how they are meeting their obligations. We also recognize that Canadians deserve to know how their personal information is being used, shared and protected. That is why my colleague, the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, introduced Bill C-36. It represents the most significant change to Canada’s private sector privacy law in over 25 years. This bill establishes clear guardrails to protect Canadians’ personal information, with a special focus on children’s personal information. Making Canadians safer online, enhancing platforms’ accountability and preventing online harms before they occur must be priorities for us and the House. The safe social media act would establish conditions necessary for the online services that shape our lives to operate responsibly and, importantly, transparently. It is designed to address current concerns while allowing us to keep pace with technological changes, which often outpace legislation. Finally, it would ensure that our children and Canadians can benefit from new technologies without compromising their safety and privacy. Canada has been falling behind, and we must ensure that Canadian youth are no less protected than young people elsewhere as our world becomes increasingly digital. We need to act now. Canadians expect action from the House, and we must deliver. I invite all members to give this bill serious consideration and engage in an open and constructive debate. Our children’s safety must be a shared priority that rises above partisan lines. I am committed to working with all members of the House to protect our children online.

Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages

Liberal
“I want this bill to pass. We need a regulator to set rules that stop harm to kids before it happens, instead of punishing people after the damage is done. The committee can debate what those rules should be and who should set them.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I think an important feature to keep kids safe before the harm occurs, as opposed to prosecuting once the damage has occurred, is to make sure we have a regulator in place that can put together precisely these guidelines. I will admit that this bar would be quite high and that there is probably a legitimate debate to be had here and in committee as to what those regulations would be and whether they would be determined by the regulator or perhaps even by committee. Obviously, in the conception of a regulatory platform, regulation should not necessarily be debated in the House on every item. I think that is a careful balance we are willing to consider.

Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages

Liberal
“This bill makes online platforms protect their users. It is an important first step, and it could help with some online fraud, especially against children. But it does not cover all fraud. We may need another bill to deal with fraud more fully.”
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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, that is a very good question. We need to be very clear about what the bill can and cannot necessarily cover. I think the issue of online fraud is of great concern to the House, particularly when it comes to the online experiences of our children and young people. Platforms have a duty of care. This is a first in Canada. I believe it could help address certain aspects of online fraud, but it is clear that we need a highly targeted approach in this area and we must ensure that platforms act responsibly. This is an important first step, but it does not represent the entirety of the debate. I am certain the House will want to continue examining the issue of online fraud, and it may do so through another, more comprehensive bill.

Kevin Lamoureux, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Liberal
“I support this bill because it protects children from harms on social media and AI. I want the minister to recognize the people who helped make it.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I really want to express my gratitude that the minister has moved forward on such an important issue that many Canadians are genuinely concerned about. Protecting the interests of our children is so critically important with respect to social media, the advancement of AI and so much more. I wonder if there are individuals whom the minister would like to recognize who have contributed to the development of the legislation.

Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages

Liberal
“I want the House to pass this bill. It protects children online. Doctors say they now treat kids harmed by social media every day instead of once a month.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his advocacy in this matter, and I thank the member for Outremont, as well as members from across the way who have been engaging with citizens. I think there is cross-partisan support for this very targeted bill, which would be doing a very basic thing we need to do as elected officials: to protect our kids. I think that is key. If we cannot get it right, there is probably no reason for us to be here. Educators, SickKids in Toronto and Alberta Children’s Hospital have all been approaching us with the same concerns. If we talk to frontline workers, such as doctors who see kids in the emergency room, and this is gallows humour and everything, we hear that they want to see more broken bones as opposed to broken souls. It is really alarming to talk to doctors and hear them say that 10 years or 15 years ago, this was something they were seeing maybe on a monthly basis. They are now seeing it on a daily basis with their patients. I want to thank all the doctors and educators and all the people out there who have been advocating for this for some time and holding us to account. I also want to give a particular shout-out to the online protection group in Winnipeg that has been doing amazing work to flag all this garbage online and to make sure people are held to account and put in jail where that is merited.

Rachel Bendayan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister

Liberal
“I want the House to pass this bill. It stops kids under 16 from having social media accounts unless platforms can prove they are safe. Social media hurts too many children with addiction and sexual abuse, and tech companies must be held responsible.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I am truly honoured to share my time with the minister himself as we begin debate on his safe social media bill. I sincerely thank him and his team for their leadership. This debate is about young people’s safety, but it is also about their rights and their freedom to learn, connect and express themselves. Our responsibility as parliamentarians is to preserve these rights and freedoms while protecting young people from harm. This debate is about the kind of childhood we want our children to have: a childhood with room to explore, to make friends and to make mistakes without those mistakes necessarily following them for the rest of their life, and a childhood in which their safety comes first. The numbers tell us how much is at stake. Twenty-three per cent of teenagers aged 12 to 17 spend five hours or more a day on social media, one in seven girls in grades 9 and 10 shows signs of addiction, and 52% of teens report receiving unwanted sexual images, mostly through social media platforms. Statistics Canada reports that the rate of police-reported online child luring rose by 65% in 2024, and that number continues to climb. That same year, cybertip.ca received more than 2,300 reports of sextortion. I approach this debate of course as a parliamentarian but also as a mother. My daughter is nine years old. She is not on social media yet, but she is curious about technology and always comes home with stories about TikTok that are being shared in the playground, and I know the decisions so many Canadian parents have made already or are wrestling with today are waiting for me just on the other side: when to say yes, how to say no and how to keep her safe. Parents are being asked to navigate technologies that evolve faster than most of us can follow, built by some of the largest and most sophisticated companies in the world. We tell parents to set better boundaries. We tell children to show more self-control. Well, it is time we told companies designing these platforms to do better. For too long, we have asked families to take on technology giants by themselves. We have asked children to resist products deliberately designed to hold their attention. It is just not a fair fight, and it is time we changed the rules. The call for change has come from across Canada: grandparents worried about their grandchildren, parents struggling to set boundaries, teachers seeing the pressures in their classrooms first-hand, and pediatricians and emergency room physicians confronting the consequences on a daily basis. This call to action has come from people in my own community. In Outremont, our riding association submitted a resolution to make 16 the minimum age for having social media accounts and to require the major platforms to enforce that age restriction. I want to thank all members of our association, especially our chair, Jonathan Nuss, for spearheading this resolution with such conviction. I was very proud to champion the resolution at our Liberal convention in Montreal in April, where party members from across the country overwhelmingly voted in its favour. Going from the concerns of parents and teachers in our community to a debate here in Parliament is what grassroots politics can achieve. That is what democracy is capable of: people coming together, speaking up and pushing for change, and then change coming right here before the people’s House in Ottawa. An Angus Reid Institute poll found that three-quarters of Canadians support a ban on social media use for children under 16. This is not a partisan issue. There is room in the House to disagree about the details. There should also be room to work together to get them right. I have had the privilege of learning from advocates at the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, SickKids, the Canadian Medical Association, Apathy is Boring, Unplugged Canada, Phone-Free Schools Movement, Raising Awareness About Digital Dangers and many others. Their persistence has helped us come to this moment. We have also listened to teenagers. Many told me that they supported an age limit because being online did not feel like much of a choice anymore. When every friend is on the platform, opting out means being left out. We should listen carefully when young people tell us they want help. Canada is not acting alone. Australia has already implemented a minimum age of 16 for accounts on social media platforms, and other governments are pursuing stronger protections as well. We should learn from those experiences and build an approach grounded in Canadian rights, Canadian values and our responsibility to children. At the heart of that approach is safety by design. That means looking at how a platform works. What does its algorithm recommend? What keeps a child scrolling for six or seven hours? What happens when a child is in distress, and what protections are in place before something goes terribly wrong? Infinite scroll is a design choice. Autoplay is a design choice. Recommendation systems are design choices. Safety must be a design choice too. In practical terms, under the bill before us, platforms subject to the age restriction would be required to take measures to prevent young people under the age of 16 from having an account. The bill also allows companies to seek an exemption if they can demonstrate that they have provided adequate safeguards for the protection of children. The decision would be made by the new digital safety commission of Canada, an independent body that sets the conditions for granting an exemption. Companies would have to provide evidence to convince the commission. We want companies to compete to better protect children, not just to keep their attention for as long as possible. They should use their capacity for innovation to keep young people safe. AI chatbot services would also have certain obligations, particularly to reduce dangerous behaviours and to intervene in crisis situations. An independent regulator would enforce these obligations and would have the power to investigate, issue compliance orders and impose penalties. This framework is based on clear responsibilities, independent oversight and consequences for non-compliance. Parliament has important work ahead. We must continue to hear from parents, young people, doctors, teachers, privacy experts and child safety advocates, as well as from the companies that would have to implement these rules. We must protect privacy and freedom of expression and make sure that the rules work in practice. That scrutiny is part of our responsibility, and so is acting. Innovation and accountability can and should go hand in hand. If we can build technology powerful enough to transform society, we can build that technology with children’s safety at its core. My daughter is nine years old. The decisions we make here will help shape the digital world she grows up in. I want her to benefit from technology, but I also want the tech companies building that digital world of the future to take her safety as seriously as I do. That is what every parent wants. That is what we should all want for every child. We are talking here about the next generation of our country.

Rachel Bendayan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister

Liberal
“I want the House to pass this bill so a committee can study it and hear more from parents. We have already talked with many people about it over the summer. This bill gives parents more tools instead of telling them how to raise their children. It stops young people from making their own accounts, but parents can still choose what their children see online. I want to work with the member to address her concerns.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I would like to assure the hon. member that the conversations will continue. I would like to point out that the minister did extensive consultations over the summer, as did I. Of course, the bill will move to committee if it is passed at second reading in the House, and there will be an opportunity for further study of the bill, where we will again hear from parents. I would like to point out that what the bill aims to do is to provide additional tools to parents. Nobody would be dictating to parents in any way how to teach or set boundaries for their own children. As my colleague would know from the bill itself, it aims to ensure that young people cannot create accounts, but if a parent would like their child to see something online, that would still remain possible. I hope we will have the opportunity to work together so I can help address some of the concerns the member may have.

Rachel Bendayan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister

Liberal
“This bill creates a digital safety commission, and we will be open about how it works. The bill already lists its powers, but we want to hear other ideas from the Bloc Québécois so we can work together to pass this bill.”
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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question from my colleague from the Bloc Québécois. Yes, the bill before the House provides for the creation of a commission. The process will be conducted in a very transparent manner, but we are not there yet. If my colleague has any suggestions regarding the commission’s powers beyond those already listed in the bill, we are ready to discuss them and work with him so that we can collaborate with the Bloc Québécois to move the bill forward.

Greg Fergus, Hull—Aylmer

Liberal
“People in my riding worry that big tech companies take no responsibility for the content on their platforms. Does this bill help hold them accountable?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague for her speech and for her work on this bill. I would like her to know that many of my constituents are concerned that the tech giants are behaving as though they bear no responsibility for what their algorithms show or what content appears on their platforms. I would like to know whether the parliamentary secretary is satisfied that this bill is a step in the right direction toward ensuring that everyone involved is held accountable for the content on their platforms.

Rachel Bendayan, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister

Liberal
“This bill will better regulate social media and protect young people online. We still have a lot of work to do as technology changes, but we need to act now and pass this bill.”
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    “It is a step in the right direction.”

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that the bill before us will ensure better regulation of social media and better protection for young people online. It is indeed a step in the right direction. In my opinion, a tremendous amount of work remains to be done. As we can see, the technologies keep evolving, but we absolutely must act, and now is the time.

Kevin Lamoureux, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Liberal
“All parties want to protect children. This bill creates a safety commission that can fix the problems the member raised and hold people accountable. I want this bill to go to a committee for study, and I want to know what she thinks about that.”
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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the presentation of Bill C-34 and the establishment of things such as the safety commission clearly demonstrates that there is political will. I believe that political will is on all sides of the House in anticipation that we will see necessary legislation to protect our children. The member makes a good example with the number of files she raised. The question I have for the member is related to the importance of recognizing, and she made reference to the safety commission, that the safety commission has the capability to address directly some of the issues that she raised as concerns for our young people. I agree, there needs to be accountability, and I look forward to the legislation ultimately going to committee. I would like to hear her thoughts on that.

Kevin Lamoureux, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Liberal
“A digital safety commission is an important part of this bill. Does the Conservative Party support having one?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to the digital safety commission because I think it is a very important aspect of the legislation. Can the member give a clear indication whether, in principle, the Conservative Party recognizes the value of having such a commission?

David Myles, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture and Minister responsible for Official Languages and to the Secretary of State (Nature)

Liberal
“I look forward to working with members from other parties on this bill. As a parent of teenagers, I share their concerns about keeping kids safe online. What do you think our biggest challenges will be in committee as we try to make a law that works?”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working in committee with the member for Drummond and with the member for Lethbridge to do this work. I just heard my colleague say that this is an extremely important issue in Canada right now. I believe we share the same concerns, not only as Canadians, but also as parents. I also have teenagers, so I understand where the member for Drummond is coming from. Given this spirit of openness and given the concerns we share, I am wondering what you think will be the biggest challenges we will face in committee as we work to develop a law that works for Canadians.

Kevin Lamoureux, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Liberal
“The government should regulate online platforms and algorithms. I want to know if the member thinks this bill is missing anything, and if he wants to add any changes to it.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate many of the words the member put on the record. I, too, am very concerned about algorithms. I think we should all be concerned about algorithms and the impact they have on the Internet. No one is saying that the Internet is bad, but we need to recognize that when it comes to platforms and algorithms, there is a role for government to play in terms of regulation. I really appreciate the member’s comments. Does the member see anything offhand that the legislation should be incorporating that it is not necessarily addressing? Is there something specific, potentially in the form of an amendment, that he would like to see?

Kevin Lamoureux, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Liberal
“We need a digital safety commission to protect children online. I want the Bloc Québécois to tell us if they support having this commission.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I want to pick up on some of the criticisms, or highlights, by Conservative Party members in regard to the safety commission. Having a digital safety commission is a critical component to the legislation. It is one of the ways we can ensure the protection of our children. I am wondering if Bloc members have taken any sort of principled position in regard to that aspect of the legislation. Do they see the principle of having that commission as a positive thing?

Sameer Zuberi, Pierrefonds—Dollard

Liberal
“I want the House to pass this bill. It makes social media companies protect users, especially children, from serious online harms like sexual exploitation and harassment.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Winnipeg North. I rise today to speak about Bill C-34, the safe social media act. One of the most important parts of my work is hearing directly from Pierrefonds—Dollard residents. Earlier this summer, I sat down with upwards of 200 residents during our annual coffee, cookies and conversation round tables. We spoke about many different things: the cost of living, the economy, the affordability crisis and the housing crisis, among many other things. We talked about the need for social media spaces to reflect the conduct we expect from one another in real life too. Residents told me that they want a safer social media environment. That is why our government has been working with stakeholders from across many different fields to make the digital world safer. Let me spend a moment on that idea, because that is the heart of Bill C-34. In our communities, we all live by shared expectations and values. We expect neighbours to treat one another with respect. We expect that someone who harasses a person in public will be held to account. These are the basic standards of decency that bind our society and that promote harmony. These concepts are also part of what makes Canada great, but somewhere along the way, some began to think that the online world operates by different rules. That is what we are here today to address. We need to be mindful that things that we would never tolerate on the streets should not become acceptable, but somehow that has been the case online. It should not be the case online or off-line. One’s behaviour online should ideally be consistent with how we expect one to act in real life and how we would expect ourselves to act in real life. That is the principle behind Bill C-34. It does not ask for anything new of Canadians. It just asks that our behaviour be more consistent. It asks that the standards that we already hold apply across spaces. I want to highlight the positive impacts that social media plays in our lives. The digital world gives us a sense of community and belonging. It is a powerful tool for sharing information. Many social justice movements and advocates utilize social media to share messages and raise awareness. This is critical, and we as parliamentarians utilize social media to share the good work we are doing within our constituencies and across this country. It is also utilized by our government to share the work that our government is doing: new trade deals, partnerships, new housing initiatives and the new ways we are building Canada strong. The social media world is now part of our daily life too. In 2025, 95% of Canadian adults had at least one social media account. Many of us here have multiple social media accounts. However, the same platforms that connect us can also be used to harm us. They can spread hate, misinformation and even harassment, and for our children, the consequences can be grave and severe. In 2024, police reported nearly 17,000 incidents involving online child sexual exploitation offences. That same year, police reported 368 incidents of sexual extortion involving victims 17 years of age or younger. In 2025, police reported over 3,000 incidents of non-consensual distribution of intimate images, and nearly 500 of those involved a victim who was 17 or younger. Behind each of these numbers is a child, a loved one, a family member and sometimes a life injured or even shattered. We are also seeing serious and growing youth mental health concerns. In the past decade, depression has doubled and anxiety has quadrupled within the demographic of Canadians aged 15 to 24. These phenomena are not limited to this demographic, though. We cannot pretend that the online environment plays no role. Let me be clear. Children are not the only ones struggling with the challenges due to harmful online behaviour; adults are not immune to these phenomena. As I mentioned earlier, we need to also recognize that digital platforms are designed to keep us engaged for long periods of time. Through features such as endless scrolling and personalized recommendations, we can spend hours on social media platforms. None of this happens by accident. These are choices made by people who build and operate these platforms. If the harm can be built in, the safety can be built in too. Canadians gave us a mandate to protect, including in online spaces, and that is exactly what we would be doing through Bill C-34. We would be making sure that social media services and AI chatbots are safe by design. Just as we are encouraging responsible behaviour online, we should not expect platforms to play this role without legislation such as this. We need to engender and support a healthier online environment. Bill C-34 has two main parts: enacting the digital safety act and enacting the digital safety commission act of Canada. The framework would focus on three core duties for social media services: the duty to act responsibly, the duty to protect children and the duty to make certain content inaccessible. The safe social media act is essential and would be a timely step that is necessary to promote a safe-by-design social media environment. We are also asking social media and chatbot service operators to disclose the steps they are taking to protect users from harmful content. We are focusing only on serious harm. We are not looking to impact everyday content or conversations. Under this bill, a new commission, the digital safety commission of Canada, will be established to regulate these services. It will consist of three to five full-time members to be appointed by the Governor in Council. The commission will be responsible for administering and enforcing the digital safety act. Within three months after the end of each fiscal year, it must submit a report on its activities to the minister, who will table that report in Parliament. Our government recognizes that transparency is essential to advancing digital safety. The commission will also be tasked with promoting digital safety in Canada. It will do so through research and education, in collaboration with experts and professionals. It will investigate complaints relating to content that sexually victimizes a child or revictimizes a survivor. It will also address intimate content communicated without consent and will ensure that operators of regulated services are transparent and accountable. This summer, as I said earlier, I met with 200 residents of Pierrefonds—Dollard. We discussed many topics, including the importance of ensuring that social media is a space where everyone can feel respected. We know that a community is built on respect and on the way we treat each other. These values should not stop just because we are online. Interactions on social media are now part of our daily lives. We must be able to find the same respect there that we want to see in real life. That is the spirit behind this bill. The work begins at the committee stage, where parliamentarians will be speaking to experts and stakeholders. I urge all members of the House to support this bill.

Sameer Zuberi, Pierrefonds—Dollard

Liberal
“The Green Party leader reminds us to treat each other with respect in this House. We should also have that respect in other spaces, and this bill tries to do that.”
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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the leader of the Green Party is always reminding us about best practices in this House, and I really appreciate that in the member opposite. She reminds us frequently about our comportment and decorum and to respect one another. That is something that we should be doing within this chamber and also in other spaces, as this bill is seeking to do.

Kevin Lamoureux, Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons

Liberal
“I support this bill. It protects people online by regulating social media platforms, and it helps parents instead of taking away their rights. The government needs to lead on this.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I like to think that every member of the House can understand and appreciate the impact that the Internet has on all people. This legislation is, I would suggest, somewhat historic in the sense that we are addressing a problem that everyone is concerned about. How we pass this legislation through would provide the assurances that it would not be taking away the rights of parents. It would complement them in many ways and demonstrate that the government very much wants to play a role in protecting people’s interests by looking at platforms and algorithms. That is what we should be doing as government. I am wondering if the member could provide his thoughts on why it is important that the national government play a leadership role in bringing forward legislation of this nature.

Sameer Zuberi, Pierrefonds—Dollard

Liberal
“I support this bill. The internet is dangerous for children, and this bill sets basic rules to stop the worst online harms. We should have passed these rules years ago.”
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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the member for Winnipeg North was referring to parents, and many of us here are parents. We care about raising our children, and we make sure that they are taken care of. We do not put our children into spaces where there is potential harm. However, we know, unfortunately, that online spaces can sometimes be the Wild West, and something that this bill is addressing is to put guardrails on the most egregious of behaviours. I would say, frankly, that this is long overdue. The fact we are actually legislating on this right now, today, after the Internet and things have been in existence for what is now running to decades, is something that we need to reflect on as a chamber. How is it possible we are so late in this? This is something we should have addressed a long time ago. Therefore, I am really happy that we are doing this now. We need to reflect on our tardiness in dealing with this situation.

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