Ottawa Weighs Age Verification for Social Media Amid Global Implementation Struggles
AI-generated image · Bay Street Wire
Bill C-34 seeks to block users under 16 from social platforms, but international precedents suggest significant enforcement gaps and privacy risks.
The Canadian federal government has introduced Bill C-34, a legislative effort to require social media platforms to block access for children under the age of 16, as CityNews Toronto first reported. While Culture Minister Marc Miller stated that the government is engaging in "back and forth" discussions with platforms to determine verification methods that are sufficient while protecting privacy, specific mechanisms have not yet been finalized.
Reporting from CityNews Toronto highlights several potential verification options, including government-issued digital IDs, facial age estimation technology, and verification via existing accounts. However, global attempts to implement similar bans have seen mixed results. France's Constitutional Council recently struck down a ban for children under 15, ruling it infringed on privacy and freedom of expression. In Australia, where a law requiring platforms to restrict users under 16 took effect in December 2025, a March report from the online safety commissioner revealed that roughly 70 percent of children on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook retained their accounts despite the ban.
In a report, Andrew MacDougall, a senior policy fellow at McGill University’s Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy, observed that there is no perfect single method for verification. He noted that while bank or credit card verification is straightforward, children under 16 rarely possess these credentials. Conversely, photo ID-matching and email-based verification carry higher privacy risks, and facial age estimation utilizes sensitive biometric data and is prone to errors for those near the age threshold.
Currently, Meta is lobbying the federal government to shift the verification burden to app store providers such as Google and Apple. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has implemented a mandatory verification system for adult content using seven different methods, including digital IDs and mobile network operator verification.