Bill C-34 — Safe Social Media Act

The Safe Social Media Act (Bill C-34) would enact two new statutes — the Digital Safety Act and the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act — creating a federal online-safety regime aimed primarily at protecting children. It was introduced by Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, on 10 June 2026.

Its headline measures are a minimum account age of 16 for social media services (with an exemption pathway for services that can demonstrate adequate child safeguards), mandated age verification, platform "duty to act responsibly" obligations, and a new Digital Safety Commission of Canada to administer and enforce the Act and support victims of online harms.

The bill is notable for this tracker because it is the first Canadian legislation to directly regulate AI chatbots. It defines "chatbot services" as AI systems that communicate over the internet, are publicly accessible, use natural-language interfaces to give adaptive, human-like conversational responses, can simulate sustained human-like relationships across sessions, and generate output that is not fully predetermined by their developers or operators.

Such services are brought under a chatbot-tailored duty to act responsibly, with specific obligations around crisis situations and named harmful behaviours — a legislative response to concerns about AI companions forming parasocial relationships with vulnerable users and giving harmful advice while appearing authoritative.

As of writing the bill sits at first reading; Parliament rises for the summer on 19 June 2026, with sittings resuming 21 September 2026.