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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

23 statements

Iqwinder Gaheer

Liberal
“We need an independent commission because politics gets in the way of good debate here. An outside group of experts can handle problems calmly. Canadians elected us to protect people, especially young people, and this group will help do that.”

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Official Hansard

Madam Speaker, I think an independent commission is necessary because, as we can see, sometimes with the debate in this chamber, it can get highly politicized. Rather than moving from crisis to crisis, the independent commission could bring measured expertise. Canadians elected the government on a mandate to protect Canadians, especially young Canadians, whose minds are still developing. I look forward to the work that the commission will eventually do in furthering that work.

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Jim Bélanger

Conservative
“The member talked about a sharp rise in anxiety and depression in children. What does he think is the main cause, and what should we do to find the causes and fix this?”
Official Hansard

Madam Speaker, my colleague talked about a sharp rise in anxiety and depression in children. Can he tell the House what he thinks is the major cause of this crisis and what we need to do to identify the causes and potential ways to reverse this crisis?

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Iqwinder Gaheer

Liberal

Linked statement

“Social media traps people in separate groups where computers only show them things that feed their fears. We need real-world spaces where people can talk and debate. I want this bill to pass so the new commission can help fix these online problems.”

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Official Hansard

Madam Speaker, I think the problem really arises because online spaces have become spaces of silos, where whatever beliefs or fears one has get reinforced by the algorithms. One of the ways that we can protect against that is to have an online space but then to come to a real space where we can actually have dialogue and debate. I look forward to the work that the commission will do to help alleviate problems with the online spaces.

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