Ban social media for under-16s
Petitioners ask the House to enact legislation prohibiting children under 16 from accessing social media, require platforms to implement robust age‑verification, and empower the CRTC to oversee enforcement and impose penalties.
Why we would sign this petition
- It would prevent children under 16 from accessing social media, directly reducing their exposure to content the petitioners say harms youth mental health.
- Mandatory robust age‑verification would push platforms to close verification gaps and limit access by underage profiles.
- Giving the CRTC enforcement authority and penalties provides a concrete mechanism to compel platform compliance.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- Age verification is technically imperfect and may be circumvented, making a blanket ban difficult to enforce and potentially ineffective.
- A prohibition could deny teens beneficial educational, social or support uses of online platforms and shift youth to unregulated services.
- Strict rules and penalties could impose high compliance costs on platforms and regulators, with trade-offs in privacy and innovation.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
Petition to the House of Commons in Parliament assembled We, the undersigned, residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons in Parliament assembled to: Enact legislation prohibiting children under the age of 16 from accessing social media platforms in order to protect their mental health and well-being, and require companies operating these platforms to implement robust verification mechanisms; and mandate the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to oversee the implementation and enforcement of this prohibition, including by imposing meaningful penalties on non-compliant platforms.
Government response
No government response is available yet.