The federal government says it is sticking with proposed legislation that would include a ban on social media for users under 16 after Meta agreed to introduce new rules for children as part of a nearly $18 billion deal with US states this week.
In addition to the money, which will be paid over ten years, Meta has agreed to strengthen its age ratings to keep children under 13 off its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, as well as age-appropriate accounts. Among other changes, it will also introduce a hard limit of two hours per day for users under 18, block children from accessing apps between midnight and 6am, and hide the like counter.
Mehta said the new protections will only apply in the U.S., with most of them lasting for 10 years.
A spokesperson for Canadian Heritage told Global News in a statement Thursday that it will still push forward with Bill C-34, called the Safe Social Media Act, which was introduced in June and would require social media companies to restrict access to Canadians under 16 on their platforms.
“The Government of Canada remains steadfast in its commitment to Bill C-34,” the department said.
“As the bill moves through the legislative process, we expect platforms to act responsibly and proactively take concrete steps to ensure their products are by design safe 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 “child protection duty” for all online platforms, which would require social media and artificial intelligence chatbot platforms to include age-appropriate design, including content warning labels, safe search settings for children, and measures to reduce addictive behavior such as endless scrolling.
Social media companies will also be required to label harmful content created by bots and “deepfakes,” or synthetic content.
Experts told Global News that the ban on social media for young people is likely to be tightened over time as the government uses “carrot and stick” incentives for platforms to improve their design and better protect children in the long term.
The bill would create a new digital safety commission that would enforce the law and grant social media platforms exemptions from the youth ban based on whether they meet yet-to-be-specified “adequate safeguards” to protect children.
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Meta told Global News in a statement Thursday that while the changes announced as part of Wednesday’s announcement are specific to the U.S., 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 “robust teen protections” and parental controls for users around the world, and that other apps like TikTok and YouTube “should join our efforts to set a new standard for protection.”
What’s behind the meta changes?
According to Evan Light, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, Meta’s changes “are not the victory that people think.”
“This is an agreement between Meta and the 52 U.S. attorneys general for which Meta has no liability,” he said. “This is an agreement with most US states for only $18 billion. And so from just a resource standpoint, I don’t think it’s going to go that far.”
On March 26, New Mexico became the first US state to hold Meta liable for “misleading consumers about the safety of its platforms and endangering children.”
The jury ordered Meta to pay the maximum penalty under the law of $5,000 per violation, totaling $375 million in civil penalties for violating New Mexico consumer protection laws.
As a result, Light believes that “when Meta saw this [New Mexico ruling] “They tried to get this lawsuit dismissed, and when that didn’t happen, they worked toward a settlement rather than being convicted in court.”
Brett Carraway, interim director of the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology at the University of Toronto, also doesn’t think Meta’s changes come from good intentions.
“They [Meta] I’ll present it as if they are now the guardians of our children. They do this for the betterment of society and the social good. But never lose sight of the fact that they had to be dragged into the courtroom to make this happen.”
However, the changes also have negative sides.
“I don’t think it will necessarily solve all of our problems. You’ll still have younger users using the platform, and you’ll incentivize them to continue being consumers of the platform as they get older,” Carraway said. “These negative consequences don’t just affect children.”
However, Carraway noted that the Meta changes are “a pretty big change.”
“The idea is here is to try to make the platform, at least for younger users, more focused and focused,” he said.
Should Canada adopt similar changes on social media?
When it comes to potential changes in Canada, Light believes that “we should try to learn from America’s mistakes.”
“The law that was proposed last summer [Safe Social Media Act] There are some interesting things about regulating social media in Canada and creating a regulator, but for me the most important thing is that none of these measures change the way Facebook actually operates,” he said.
“The New Mexico court decision was the only example I’ve seen where some part of the court, which is somewhat independent of politics, said we’re going to make changes to the internal workings of Facebook in the state of New Mexico,” he added.
“All these other things don’t really change the way things function. They change the ways teens can use social media, but they don’t change what they consume.”
Carraway also suggested that the influence of social media on Canadian youth may not be easily erased.
“Limited attention and then the endless cycle of seeking validation on social media platforms is something that will never go away.”
— With files from Touria Izri from Global.