Canada’s new Bill C-16 strengthens the legal response to sextortion, AI-generated sexual deepfakes, and image-based abuse. For the first time, threatening to share intimate images may itself be a crime, even if no image is ever distributed. While the law gives police and courts stronger tools to respond, prevention still begins with education, communication, and helping youth recognize manipulation before it becomes exploitation.

Calls to ban youth under 16 from social media are driven by real concern, but age alone is a blunt policy tool. After working with over 680,000 Canadian teens, we see a reality missing from the debate. Many youth are learning, creating, and building skills online. Before drawing a hard age line, we need to ask what opportunities, growth, and potential we may be quietly taking away.

Australia’s new under-16 social media law is making headlines, and some want Canada to follow. But blocking teens from major platforms doesn’t address the real risks behind toxic algorithms, predation, and poor safety design. As youth migrate to unregulated apps, we need smarter solutions. Here’s what parents should know before calling age-gating a fix