Federal social media bill threatens to undermine privacy rights, alienate youth: critics [audio]

The federal government’s newly tabled Digital Safety Act is meant to protect children from harmful influences online, including violent extremists that prey on vulnerable youth, but some critics say the it will undermine civil liberties while making it increasingly difficult for young people to connect with their communities.

Listen to the interview with Prof. Erin Steuter of Mount Allison University: 

If passed into law, Bill C-34 would require social media services to “implement adequate age-verification or age-estimation measures” preventing children under 16 from registering for an account.

Exemptions from that rule would be available to companies that enact “adequate safeguards” for the protection of children. Those exemptions would be handed out by a so-called Digital Safety Commission, which would also be created under the legislation.

In practice, it’s likely that social media users will have to upload sensitive identity papers for age-verification purposes, according to some observers. “That’s one of the things I’m quite concerned about,” said Erin Steuter, a professor of sociology at Mount Allison University.

“That’s a lot more personal information out there that could be susceptible to a hack or data harvesting by the company or third parties, and I think puts a lot more people at risk.”

Having an ID attached to people’s social media activity could also make it easier for governments to criminalize political speech, she said.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has raised similar concerns, calling age-verification mandates “highly invasive” and suggesting that such requirements will “create disproportionate challenges for marginalized communities.”

The CCLA stated that the bill raises “significant civil liberties concerns, including through the limitless powers it grants the government and a new digital safety regulator.”

“There are certain groups who have quite a legitimate need to protect their identities,” Steuter said.

She said that policymakers seem to be underestimating the importance of social media for youth in terms of connecting with like-minded people through social media, especially if they live in isolated areas.

Steuter acknowledged the presence of significant online threats, but said that alternative solutions exist.

Examples include targeting industry practices such as algorithmic recommendations that propagate misinformation, or investing public funds into media literacy programs.

Bill C-34 lets social media companies off the hook, she said, only requiring them to ensure that users are “old enough to play in their dirty playpen as opposed to cleaning it up for everyone.”

Ottawa seems to be rushing C-34 into law without consultation from the children and youth rights sector, she added. “It looks like they’re trying to drive it through quite quickly,” she said.

Steuter also noted that youth typically get around age bans by using fake IDs, which could result in their criminalization and make it harder for them to report malicious activity they witness online.

“We already see it’s very difficult for youth to come forward to say that they have been a victim of some kind of sextortion or cyber bullying, or that they have kind of gotten into a kind of radicalized or polarized space.”

The legislation passed first reading on June 10. So far no date has been set for second reading.

Alarming examples of malicious actors targeting children include 764, also called “The Com,” which the federal government listed as a terrorist entity in 2025.

In February, the RCMP announced that a youth in Fredericton had been placed on a terrorism peace bond after allegedly using social media to promote 764’s violent ideology.

Public Safety Canada has described it as a “network of online nihilistic violent extremists” who use social media and gaming platforms to “particularly those with young and marginalized user bases, to lure, groom, and extort youth to commit violent and sexual acts, including self-harm.”

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op based in Moncton. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, via the Local Journalism Initiative.