{"id":7060634,"date":"2026-09-19T01:28:44","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T01:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/legal\/why-bill-c-34s-social-media-ban-for-kids-is-unconstitutional\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T01:28:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T01:28:44","slug":"why-bill-c-34s-social-media-ban-for-kids-is-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7060634","title":{"rendered":"Why Bill C-34\u2019s Social Media Ban for Kids Is Unconstitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-body-5795421519441952564\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Canadian Social Media Ban for Kids in Bill C-34 is Unconstitutional\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/TmqjQgSCEWk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe allowtransparency=\"true\" data-name=\"pb-iframe-player\" height=\"150\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/player-v2\/?i=qyi23-1b5ab14-pb&amp;from=pb6admin&amp;share=1&amp;download=1&amp;rtl=0&amp;fonts=Arial&amp;skin=1&amp;font-color=auto&amp;logo_link=episode_page&amp;btn-skin=7\" style=\"border: none; height: 150px; min-width: min(100%, 430px);\" title=\"The Canadian Social Media Ban for Kids in Bill C-34 is Unconstitutional\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">In my <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.privacylawyer.ca\/2026\/06\/online-harms-is-back.html\" target=\"_blank\">last episode<\/a> about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.parl.ca\/LegisInfo\/en\/bill\/45-1\/c-34\" target=\"_blank\">Bill C-34, the SafeSocial Media Act<\/a>, I said that one provision jumped out at me as particularly<br \/>\nconstitutionally vulnerable: the rule that would keep people under sixteen from<br \/>\nhaving accounts on social media services.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">I said then that social media is fundamentally<br \/>\nexpressive. Teenagers have freedom of expression too. And telling a<br \/>\nfifteen-year-old that the government will not allow them to have an Instagram<br \/>\naccount is very different from telling them they cannot buy a bottle of whisky.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Well, since then, something very interesting<br \/>\nhas happened in France.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">France passed a remarkably similar law<br \/>\nrestricting social media use by young people. And on August 14, 2026, the<br \/>\nFrench Constitutional Council struck down the core of that law as<br \/>\nunconstitutional.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Canada is not France. The French Constitution<br \/>\nis not the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And the legal tests are not<br \/>\nidentical.\u00a0<\/span>But when you read the French decision, the<br \/>\nreasoning sounds remarkably familiar to a Canadian constitutional lawyer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Are there legitimate issues with social media,<br \/>\nparticularly for kids? Yes.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Is addressing this a \u201clegitimate government<br \/>\nobjective\u201d? Yes.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">But a broad prohibition on young people using<br \/>\nsocial media?<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">It is too blunt an instrument. It is too<br \/>\nbroad. And it is not sufficiently connected to the actual risks.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">In Canada, I think we would reach much the<br \/>\nsame result under section 2(b) of the Charter and, particularly, the <b>minimal<br \/>\nimpairment<\/b> part of the Oakes test.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">And today we\u2019re going to do some<br \/>\nconstitutional law. Yippee!<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"break-after: auto; margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; page-break-after: auto;\"><a name=\"_hqhgqimyh0e5\"\/><b><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;\">Part One: What Bill C-34 Actually Does<o:p\/><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">First, let&#8217;s be precise about what Bill C-34<br \/>\nsays.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">It does not literally say that every person<br \/>\nunder sixteen is forbidden from ever looking at social media.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEgLsuwiymZbrUqJIyT30Vgbz3UuPBVfSFM3CVYGhgqWaK8ndBFsig_eEBfbGZSyki1mRuMeO8bgGFvPmVdOz6Ro9b6uFUjCxbzSOlmCn236indeg21d7QbGsqB3_TModsUVhLrTtQNMcvYCSPSodIAwA98Oo_R1FEeyDMUJKBr36QBbzIN5j8A69Q\/s1920\/Slide2.PNG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"1920\" data-original-width=\"1080\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEgLsuwiymZbrUqJIyT30Vgbz3UuPBVfSFM3CVYGhgqWaK8ndBFsig_eEBfbGZSyki1mRuMeO8bgGFvPmVdOz6Ro9b6uFUjCxbzSOlmCn236indeg21d7QbGsqB3_TModsUVhLrTtQNMcvYCSPSodIAwA98Oo_R1FEeyDMUJKBr36QBbzIN5j8A69Q\/w225-h400\/Slide2.PNG\" width=\"225\"\/><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span lang=\"EN\"><br \/>Instead, section 27 says that operators of<br \/>\nsocial media services selected by regulation have to use age verification or<br \/>\nage estimation measures designed to prevent anyone under sixteen from having an<br \/>\naccount or otherwise being registered with the service. Section 28 allows the<br \/>\ngovernment to prescribe additional measures to accomplish exactly the same<br \/>\nthing.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">That distinction matters.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">A fifteen-year-old might still be able to look<br \/>\nat some publicly available material without an account.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">But they cannot post. They cannot comment.<br \/>\nThey cannot participate through an account. They cannot use the platform in the<br \/>\nway that social media is fundamentally designed to be used.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">And there is an \u201cescape hatch\u201d that makes this<br \/>\nless absolute.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Under section 29, the operator of a social<br \/>\nmedia service can apply to the Digital Safety Commission for an exemption from<br \/>\nthe ban if the Commission concludes that the service provides \u201cadequate<br \/>\nsafeguards\u201d for children. The government can make regulations establishing the<br \/>\ncriteria, and the Commission can issue guidelines.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><span lang=\"EN\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEiEFGJMnR4g7g9WM0NDqLIhEh6Pb10JmPClpZ0otwwqCqWLcWtOIc95r5wOPw-sWwaCKuw9CrFUhX9MeU-737ryUEVQRiKWszz9jSG-2tzW2a_Pp8SLmNf_6Q5ysZHzPyAeSwCkaLG0Sy133tKcqU-xOockktKgLkfwzIgU15-zEsDtODYvzlAkVg\/s1920\/Slide3.PNG\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"1920\" data-original-width=\"1080\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEiEFGJMnR4g7g9WM0NDqLIhEh6Pb10JmPClpZ0otwwqCqWLcWtOIc95r5wOPw-sWwaCKuw9CrFUhX9MeU-737ryUEVQRiKWszz9jSG-2tzW2a_Pp8SLmNf_6Q5ysZHzPyAeSwCkaLG0Sy133tKcqU-xOockktKgLkfwzIgU15-zEsDtODYvzlAkVg\/w225-h400\/Slide3.PNG\" width=\"225\"\/><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<p><span lang=\"EN\"><br \/>But notice what this exemption is <b>not<\/b>.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">It is not an exemption for a particular<br \/>\nfifteen-year-old.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">It is not parental consent. (Parents have no<br \/>\nsay over any of this.)<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">It is not an assessment of whether this<br \/>\nparticular young person can safely use this particular service.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">It is essentially a service-by-service<br \/>\nexemption. The platform gets exempted, not the child.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"break-after: auto; margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; page-break-after: auto;\"><a name=\"_xpa52uevwjx\"\/><b><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;\">Part Two: Section 2(b) of the <i>Charter<\/i><o:p\/><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The first <i>Charter <\/i>question is relatively<br \/>\nstraightforward.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Section 2(b) protects freedom of thought,<br \/>\nbelief, opinion and expression. It also includes freedom of \u201cother media of<br \/>\ncommunication.\u201d <o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; border-style: none; border-width: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><b>Fundamental freedoms<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">2 Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote style=\"border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; border-style: none; border-width: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;\">\n<blockquote style=\"border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; border-style: none; border-width: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">(a) freedom of conscience and religion;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote style=\"border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; border-style: none; border-width: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote style=\"border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; border-style: none; border-width: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote style=\"border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; border-style: none; border-width: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">(d) freedom of association.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div>The Supreme Court of Canada has interpreted<br \/>\n\u201cexpression\u201d extremely broadly. The basic rule coming out of cases like <i><a href=\"https:\/\/canlii.ca\/t\/1ft6g\" target=\"_blank\">IrwinToy<\/a><\/i> is that an activity is expressive if it attempts to convey meaning.<\/div>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Posting a video is expression. Writing a<br \/>\ncomment is expression. Participating in a political discussion is expression.<br \/>\nSharing your artwork is expression. Talking about your school, your community<br \/>\nor your favourite hockey team is expression. And social media has become one of<br \/>\nthe principal places where people do all of those things.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">If you just look at the definitions of \u201csocial<br \/>\nmedia service\u201d in the Bill, you can see that what makes a service \u201cin scope\u201d of<br \/>\nthe Bill is the fact that it enables accessing, sharing and communicating<br \/>\ncontent. That is expression.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">In fact, Bill C-34 itself recognizes the<br \/>\nimportance of freedom of expression but perhaps in more of a \u201cwindow dressing\u201d<br \/>\nkind of way. One of the statutory purposes is to mitigate online harms <b>while<br \/>\nrespecting freedom of expression<\/b>, and another is to enable people in Canada<br \/>\nto participate fully in public discourse and exercise their freedom of<br \/>\nexpression online.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The Bill even tells the Digital Safety<br \/>\nCommission that when it makes regulations and guidelines, it has to take<br \/>\nfreedom of expression into account.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The social media ban for kids doesn\u2019t take<br \/>\nfreedom of expression into account. <o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">I don&#8217;t think the government gets very far<br \/>\narguing that section 2(b) isn&#8217;t engaged. It is clearly engaged.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The government is imposing a legal rule that<br \/>\nprevents a class of people from obtaining the accounts they need to participate<br \/>\nin major forums for expression. That is a restriction on expression, plain and<br \/>\nsimple.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Which takes us to section 1 of the Charter.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote style=\"border-color: currentcolor; border-image: none; border-style: none; border-width: medium; border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"text-align: left;\">1 The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3 style=\"break-after: auto; margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; page-break-after: auto;\"><a name=\"_yws5ysr2dufx\"\/><b><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;\">Part Three: The Oakes Test<o:p\/><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">A violation of a Charter right is not<br \/>\nnecessarily unconstitutional.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Section 1 allows governments to impose<br \/>\nreasonable limits on Charter rights if those limits can be demonstrably<br \/>\njustified in a free and democratic society.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The test to determine if a government measure<br \/>\nthat limits a Charter can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic<br \/>\nsociety is called the Oakes test. <o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Very simplified, the government needs an<br \/>\nimportant objective. The measure chosen by the government has to be rationally<br \/>\nconnected to that objective. It must impair the Charter right no more than is<br \/>\nreasonably necessary. And, finally, the benefits have to justify the harm to<br \/>\nthe protected right.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">I don&#8217;t think the government is going to have<br \/>\nmuch trouble at the first stage.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Bill C-34 expressly says one of its purposes<br \/>\nis protecting children&#8217;s physical and mental health.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">There are legitimate concerns about young<br \/>\npeople and social media. There are legitimate concerns about harmful content,<br \/>\naddictive or manipulative features, bullying and other risks. I am quite<br \/>\nprepared to assume in this analysis that protecting children from those harms<br \/>\nis a pressing and substantial objective.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">I would probably give the government \u201crational<br \/>\nconnection\u201d as well. If you keep children completely off a service, they<br \/>\nobviously cannot be harmed by that service while they are off it. But that is<br \/>\nfar from the end of the analysis.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The really difficult question is: <b>Do you<br \/>\nhave to keep them off the service altogether?<o:p\/><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">That&#8217;s minimal impairment.\u00a0<\/span>And that is where I think this provision is in<br \/>\nserious trouble.<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"break-after: auto; margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; page-break-after: auto;\"><a name=\"_9r0m518mje5b\"\/><b><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;\">Part Four: Minimal Impairment Does Not Mean \u201cAnything That<br \/>\nWorks\u201d<o:p\/><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The Supreme Court does give governments some<br \/>\nlatitude here.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Minimal impairment does not mean that a judge<br \/>\ngets to dream up some theoretically perfect alternative and strike down<br \/>\nlegislation because Parliament did not choose it. Governments are generally<br \/>\nallowed a range of reasonable policy choices. But there is still a<br \/>\nconstitutional limit.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The question is whether the government can<br \/>\nachieve its objective, in a real and substantial way, through a measure that<br \/>\ninterferes significantly less with the Charter right.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The Supreme Court&#8217;s decision in <i><a href=\"https:\/\/canlii.ca\/t\/1frgz\" target=\"_blank\">RJR-MacDonald<\/a><\/i><br \/>\nis particularly interesting. That case dealt with a broad prohibition on<br \/>\ntobacco advertising. The majority emphasized that a complete prohibition on<br \/>\nexpression is more difficult to justify than a partial prohibition,<br \/>\nparticularly where the government has not demonstrated why narrower measures<br \/>\nwould be inadequate.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">And in a case called <i><a href=\"https:\/\/canlii.ca\/t\/gg5z4\" target=\"_blank\">Carter<\/a><\/i>, the Court<br \/>\nmade essentially the same point in a very different context: an absolute<br \/>\nprohibition was not minimally impairing where a carefully designed system of<br \/>\nsafeguards could substantially accomplish the government&#8217;s protective<br \/>\nobjective.\u00a0<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Now, the government has a very good case it<br \/>\nwill undoubtedly rely upon: <i><a href=\"https:\/\/canlii.ca\/t\/1ft6g\" target=\"_blank\">Irwin Toy<\/a><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span>That was the famous case involving Quebec&#8217;s<br \/>\nprohibition on commercial advertising directed at children under thirteen. The<br \/>\nSupreme Court found a section 2(b) violation but upheld the restriction under<br \/>\nsection 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">But there is an enormous difference.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><i><span lang=\"EN\">Irwin Toy<\/span><\/i><span lang=\"EN\"><br \/>\nrestricted what <b>advertisers<\/b> could say to young children. It regulated<br \/>\ncommercial expression directed at a particularly vulnerable audience. Bill C-34<br \/>\nrestricts what <b>young people themselves<\/b> can do.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">It removes their ability to participate<br \/>\nthrough an account in an entire medium of communication, including political,<br \/>\neducational, artistic, cultural and ordinary social expression.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Those are very different Charter interests.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"break-after: auto; margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; page-break-after: auto;\"><a name=\"_pd5e209gkt2p\"\/><b><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;\">Part Five: And Then There Is France<o:p\/><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">This is where the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr\/decision\/2026\/2026911DC.htm\" target=\"_blank\">French decision<\/a> becomes<br \/>\nreally interesting.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">First, a quick note about the French<br \/>\nConstitutional Council: its mandate includes reviewing certain laws after they<br \/>\nare passed by the legislature but before they are signed into law. It\u2019s kind of<br \/>\nlike an automatic reference to the Supreme Court. I think that\u2019s a cool<br \/>\nprotection for constitutional rights. <o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Back to the social media ban: The French<br \/>\nConstitutional Council began by recognizing essentially the same thing that I<br \/>\nwas just talking about: online communication services have become important to<br \/>\nparticipation in democratic life and the expression of ideas and opinions. It<br \/>\nconcluded that freedom of expression therefore includes the freedom to access<br \/>\nand express oneself through those services.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Then it acknowledged the government&#8217;s<br \/>\nlegitimate concern.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The legislature was trying to protect young<br \/>\npeople from risks associated with social networks. The Constitutional Council<br \/>\naccepted that protecting children could justify some restrictions.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">But then it looked at what the law actually<br \/>\ndid.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The prohibition was not sufficiently tied to<br \/>\nthe particular functions of a service, the content it offered, the dangers it<br \/>\npresented or the adequacy of its protections. It could therefore apply to<br \/>\nservices where a risk to children&#8217;s health or safety had not actually been<br \/>\nestablished. And the law treated all children under fifteen alike.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">There was no mechanism for a parent, properly<br \/>\ninformed about the risks and safeguards, to authorize access. There was no<br \/>\nindividualized consideration of the child&#8217;s age, maturity or circumstances, or<br \/>\nof the particular service involved.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The Constitutional Council therefore concluded<br \/>\nthat the general prohibition was not appropriate, necessary and proportionate<br \/>\nto the objective.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">And it struck it down.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Does that decide the Canadian question? Nope.<br \/>\nBut it is almost a textbook description of the minimal-impairment problem with<br \/>\nBill C-34\u2019s social media ban.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"break-after: auto; margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; page-break-after: auto;\"><a name=\"_720u074pxf4g\"\/><b><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;\">Part Six: The Canadian Law Is Different \u2014 But Not Different<br \/>\nEnough<o:p\/><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">There are some important differences between<br \/>\nthe French law and Canada\u2019s Bill C-34..<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The Canadian scheme is somewhat more targeted.<br \/>\nThe government has to specify the regulated social media services or classes of<br \/>\nservices to which the under-sixteen rule will apply. This is solely based on<br \/>\nthe number of users, so has nothing to do with specific risks to specific kids.<br \/>\n<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">And Canada has the section 29 exemption for<br \/>\nservices with adequate safeguards. (Which will likely only come into effect<br \/>\nyears after the bill becomes law and the Digital Safety Commission gets its<br \/>\nstuff together.)<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Bill C-34 also deals with the privacy<br \/>\nimplications of age verification more explicitly than the French law did. It<br \/>\nlimits the purposes for which age-verification information can be collected and<br \/>\nrequires its destruction after verification or estimation is completed.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Those differences matter, but they don\u2019t solve<br \/>\nthe central section 2(b) problem.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Once a service has been selected, the rule<br \/>\nright out of the gate is still: if you are fifteen, you don&#8217;t get an account.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">It doesn&#8217;t matter why you want the account. It<br \/>\ndoesn&#8217;t matter whether you&#8217;re using it to talk about politics, follow community<br \/>\norganizations, publish your photography, participate in a school activity or<br \/>\njust talk to your friends.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">It doesn&#8217;t matter whether your parents think<br \/>\nyou&#8217;re capable of using it responsibly.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">And it doesn&#8217;t matter whether the particular<br \/>\nfeature you want to use has anything to do with the harm that Parliament is<br \/>\ntrying to prevent.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">That is a very broad response to a much more<br \/>\nspecific collection of problems.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"break-after: auto; margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; page-break-after: auto;\"><a name=\"_wtwjrb37qr83\"\/><b><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;\">Part Seven: The Strangest Part Is That Bill C-34 Already<br \/>\nContains the Alternatives<o:p\/><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">And this is what I think makes the<br \/>\nminimal-impairment argument especially powerful.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Bill C-34 itself contains a whole range of<br \/>\nless intrusive tools for protecting children.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Section 21 allows age-appropriate design<br \/>\nrequirements. Section 32 requires social media operators to implement measures<br \/>\nto mitigate exposure to harmful content. Other provisions require blocking<br \/>\ntools. And the Commission&#8217;s regulation-making powers expressly contemplate<br \/>\nthings like children&#8217;s account options, parental controls and other<br \/>\nage-appropriate design features.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">In other words, Parliament has already written<br \/>\na menu of more targeted interventions into the same statute.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<li><span lang=\"EN\">Protective defaults.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN\">Parental controls.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN\">Age-appropriate account settings.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN\">Restrictions aimed at particular risky<br \/>\nfeatures.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span lang=\"EN\">Measures aimed at harmful content.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Those approaches regulate the <b>risk<\/b>.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The under-sixteen ban regulates the <b>person<\/b>.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">And that is exactly the question the<br \/>\ngovernment is going to have to answer in a Charter challenge: why aren&#8217;t those<br \/>\nless rights-infringing measures enough?<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The government does not have to prove that no<br \/>\nconceivable alternative exists. But it does have to justify the level of<br \/>\nimpairment it has chosen. And saying \u201csocial media can be harmful to kids\u201d<br \/>\ndoesn&#8217;t answer that question.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"break-after: auto; margin: 0cm; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; page-break-after: auto;\"><a name=\"_so3hgz3etzjt\"\/><b><span lang=\"EN\" style=\"color: black; font-size: 13pt; line-height: 115%;\">Conclusion<o:p\/><\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">None of this means that social media is<br \/>\nharmless.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">And it doesn&#8217;t mean that Parliament is<br \/>\npowerless to regulate it.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">The Charter does not require the government to<br \/>\nsit on its hands while children are exposed to risks. It does, however, require<br \/>\nthe government to respond to those risks with some degree of precision.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Target the dangerous features.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Target the harmful content.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Require safer design.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Give parents useful controls.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Impose obligations on the platforms that are<br \/>\nactually creating the risk.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">But telling every fifteen-year-old that they<br \/>\ncannot have an account on a designated social media service is something very<br \/>\ndifferent.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">France&#8217;s Constitutional Council has now<br \/>\nconfronted essentially the same constitutional tension. It accepted that the<br \/>\nharms were real. It accepted that protecting children was legitimate. But it<br \/>\nconcluded that those legitimate concerns did not justify a general prohibition<br \/>\nthat swept far beyond the risks the government was trying to address.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">Canadian courts will have to take a different<br \/>\nconstitutional route, but I am pretty confident they will arrive at the same<br \/>\ndestination.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">If Bill C-34 is enacted in its current form<br \/>\nand the under-sixteen account restriction is challenged, I think <b>minimal<br \/>\nimpairment is where it breaks<\/b>.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">And I don&#8217;t think putting an exemption process<br \/>\nat the end of an overly broad prohibition fixes the problem at the beginning.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">I realize that a social media ban for young<br \/>\npeople is very popular and politically wonderful, but we exist in a country<br \/>\nwith rights. A fifteen year old has the same right to freedom of expression as<br \/>\nI do. I can have an account on YouTube to share my thoughts on privacy,<br \/>\ntechnology and important public policy matters. Once Bill C-34 is passed \u2013 if<br \/>\nit is passed in its current form \u2013 young people will not be able to do that.<br \/>\nAnd that, in my view, is a serious issue that needs to be front and centre in<br \/>\nthe discussion of Bill C-34 when Parliament gets back from its summer break.<o:p\/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN\">And I should note, as I wrap up, that I also<br \/>\nthink this violates adults\u2019 Charter rights, because adults will have to jump<br \/>\nthrough privacy-risking age verification measures before being allowed to use<br \/>\nsocial media. I\u2019m not sure that can be fully justified under the Oakes test,<br \/>\neither.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In my last episode about Bill C-34, the SafeSocial Media Act, I said that one provision jumped out at me as particularly constitutionally vulnerable: the rule that would keep people under sixteen from having accounts on social media services. I said then that social media is fundamentally expressive. Teenagers have freedom of expression too. And [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[11347,6795,222649,351,10999,10974,84541],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7060634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal","tag-ban","tag-bill","tag-c34s","tag-kids","tag-media","tag-social","tag-unconstitutional"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Bill C-34\u2019s Social Media Ban for Kids Is Unconstitutional - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7060634\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Bill C-34\u2019s Social Media Ban for Kids Is Unconstitutional - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In my last episode about Bill C-34, the SafeSocial Media Act, I said that one provision jumped out at me as particularly constitutionally vulnerable: the rule that would keep people under sixteen from having accounts on social media services. 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