Over the last two weeks of the parliamentary sitting, the Liberal government made a series of moves related to AI and digital regulation. It introduced a new AI strategy, a bill requiring social media platforms to ban kids under 16 and a long-awaited privacy bill. It also moved to block new rules requiring streamers to […]

The Conservatives and the NDP aren’t offering opinions yet on the online harms bill introduced by the federal Liberal government Wednesday. The bill includes a high-profile plan to force social media companies to ban kids under 16 from their platforms. A spokesperson for the Conservatives said the party is looking at the bill. “Protecting children […]

The Liberal government’s new online safety legislation would force social media to block access for kids under 16, though platforms will be able to obtain an exemption if they put sufficient safeguards in place. Bill C-34, introduced Wednesday in the House of Commons, would also regulate the companies behind AI chatbots by imposing on them […]

New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt has called on the federal government to prohibit children under 16 from using social media. In a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney that her office released Tuesday, Holt also asked the federal government to prevent social media companies from advertising to minors and from developing content “designed to prey […]

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico state prosecutors are seeking fundamental changes to Meta’s social media apps and algorithms to safeguard children in the second phase of a landmark trial on allegations that platforms such as Instagram have created a public safety hazard. Opening statements began Monday in the three-week bench trial to decide […]

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia is urging social media companies and digital platforms to report the number of accounts that have been suspended as part of the implementation of government regulations restricting access for children under 16, authorities said Wednesday. “We will continue to insist that compliance alone is not enough; we must also report […]

BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts’ highest court heard oral arguments Friday in the state’s lawsuit arguing that Meta designed features on Facebook and Instagram to make them addictive to young users. The lawsuit, filed in 2023 by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, alleges that Meta did this to make a profit and that its actions affected hundreds […]

Federal Liberals voted in favour of setting 16 as the age of majority for Canadians to be able to use social media accounts. Party grassroots passed a non-binding resolution Saturday morning for the restriction and to place the onus on social media companies to enforce it. Quebec MP Rachel Bendayan, who presented the idea to […]

For years, parents, teenagers, pediatricians, educators and whistleblowers have pushed the idea that social media is detrimental to young people’s mental health and can lead to addiction, eating disorders, sexual exploitation and suicide. For the first time, juries in two states took their side. In Los Angeles on Wednesday, a jury found both Meta and […]

LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators are investigating Snapchat over concerns the platform isn’t doing enough to protect kids and exposing them to risks such as increased vulnerability to child predators or recruitment by criminals. The 27-nation EU’s executive Commission said Thursday it was opening a formal investigation into Snapchat under the bloc’s sweeping rule […]

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico jury determined Tuesday that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its social media platforms, a verdict that signals a changing tide against tech companies and the government’s willingness to crack down. The landmark decision comes after a nearly seven-week trial, […]

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A jury began deliberations Monday in a landmark trial in New Mexico where social media conglomerate Meta is accused of misleading its users about how safe its platforms are for children. Meta’s attorneys dispute the claims and say the company provides built-in protections for teenagers and weeds out harmful content […]