Canada’s proposed Bill C-34 would age-gate social media for youth under 16, but will it actually make kids safer? After reviewing the entire bill and government briefings, we remain unconvinced. Evidence from Australia, real-world cases we’ve worked on, and decades of experience suggest that online harms are rarely tied to a birthday. The bigger questions may be about platform design, digital literacy, parental engagement, and whether age-gating solves the problem it was crea

Legislation can reduce risk, but it cannot raise a child. As governments rush to regulate social media and technology, many parents are being led to believe the right law will keep kids safe online. It won’t. Laws can shape platforms, but they can’t teach judgment, self-control, empathy, or critical thinking. Those skills are learned at home, through modelling, guidance, and boundaries. Parenting still comes first.

Canada’s new Protecting Victims Act could reshape how we safeguard kids in both physical and digital spaces. From criminalizing coercive control to outlawing sexual deepfakes and strengthening penalties for online child predators, this legislation marks one of the biggest shifts in decades. Parents need to understand what’s coming—and why it matters now.

In Canada, passing strong child-protection laws for social media isn’t as straightforward as it seems. The CUSMA trade agreement prevents the government from forcing U.S. tech companies to reveal or modify their algorithms or hold them liable for user-generated content. This limits how far Canada can go compared to Europe. While lawmakers navigate trade barriers, parental engagement remains the most immediate protection for kids online.