From Scrolling to Safety, Canada’s Legislative Approach

Short‑form video hasn’t just changed how young people spend their time; it has reshaped the environments in which they grow up. For years, the conversation about youth mental health and social media has focused on individual responsibility: screen time, parental controls, and digital literacy. Canada’s newly tabled legislation suggests something different: the online environment itself may need to change.

A policy pivot: from reaction to prevention

In June 2026, the Government of Canada introduced sweeping legislation: the Safe Social Media Act (Bill C‑34), aimed at making social media platforms and AI chatbots safer for children under 16 years of age. Unlike earlier approaches, which often responded after harm occurred, this bill emphasizes prevention by requiring platforms to assess and reduce risks arising from harmful content and how their systems are designed and generate this content.

The legislation introduces a fundamental shift: platforms are no longer just hosting content; they are responsible for the risks their design creates. This includes how content is recommended, how interactions are shaped, and how long users remain engaged.

At its core are three duties:

• Protect Children
• Act Responsibly
• Make Certain Content Inaccessible

Together, these define a new baseline expectation: digital environments should be safe by design, not merely moderated after harm emerges.

Canada is not acting in isolation. Several countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, and jurisdictions in Brazil and Southeast Asia such as Malaysia, have begun introducing age restrictions, platform accountability frameworks, or proposals to limit youth access to high‑risk online environments.

Why now? The scale of online harm

The urgency behind this legislation reflects more than abstract concern. Government data point to escalating risks, particularly for young people.

• In Canada, police reported 16,905 incidents of online child sexual exploitation in 2024, a 347 percent increase since 2014
• About 1 in 4 Canadian youth (25 percent) aged 12–17 reported cyberbullying in a single year

The legislation directly targets seven categories of harmful content, including material that promotes self‑harm, fuels bullying, incites violence, foments hatred, terrorism or violent extremism, or involves non‑consensual intimate imagery. Importantly, it does more than regulate content; it addresses how likely children are to encounter harmful material in the first place.

Raising the age is raising the bar

One of the most widely discussed provisions is a proposed age restriction preventing children under 16 from having social media accounts unless companies can demonstrate they have robust safeguards in place. This reflects growing concern among clinicians and researchers about developmental vulnerability. I recently explained some of the reasons why young teens are vulnerable to online harms in a Canadian broadcasting interview and highlighted that this is often driven by how social media platforms are designed to capture and hold users’ attention, compel excessive usage, and may negatively affect brain development and behaviour in young users. [CBC.ca]

The implication is clear: age is not just a number; it is a proxy for neurological and psychological readiness to navigate high‑engagement environments, and the developing brain is highly sensitive to environmental exposures, especially negative exposures and experiences that can alter mental health trajectories.

Extending responsibility to AI

For the first time, Canadian legislation explicitly includes AI chatbot services in youth safety regulation. These systems will be required to:

• Reduce the risk of generating harmful content
• Be transparent in crises (for example, self‑harm disclosures)
• Prevent harmful interactions with vulnerable users

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This reflects an emerging reality: young people are not only consuming content, but they are also interacting with systems that respond, influence, and shape behaviour in real time.

A new regulator for a new problem

To enforce these rules, the legislation proposes a Digital Safety Commission of Canada, an independent body with the power to:

• Audit platform practices
• Issue compliance orders
• Levy financial penalties for non-compliance
• Handle user complaints

This marks a shift toward sustained oversight rather than reactive enforcement. Platforms will also be required to publish digital safety plans, explaining how they identify and mitigate risks.

What this means for children’s mental health

For years, research has shown that youth mental health is linked not only to what young people see online, but to how platforms are structured, how they reward engagement, amplify content, and prolong exposure. The new Canadian framework proposes to formalize this idea in law. It treats risk as something engineered, not accidental. Importantly, it also acknowledges that parents and youth have been struggling to manage these risks alone.

From individual responsibility to shared accountability

The Safe Social Media Act signals a broader cultural shift. For decades, digital well-being advice has focused on limiting screen time, setting boundaries, and building self‑control. While these remain important, this legislation requires companies to assess and mitigate risks; the policy moves responsibility upstream, from users to systems, from outcomes to design.

What comes next

The legislation must pass through Parliament and be implemented. But even in its current form, it represents a clear direction toward:

• design and content-based regulation
• child‑centred digital environments
• accountability for attention economies

For clinicians, educators, and parents, the takeaway is not that technology is inherently harmful, but that risks emerge from how digital environments are designed. Canada’s new legislation explicitly recognizes this by requiring platforms themselves to reduce harm through built‑in safeguards rather than relying on individuals to manage exposure alone.