Experts say Canadian youth social media ban likely to see Charter challenge

The federal government is likely to face a constitutional challenge to its proposed ban on social media for kids under 16, some experts say.

On Friday, France’s top court struck down that country’s social media ban for kids under 15, saying the ban was too broad and infringed on freedom of expression.

Dalhousie University associate law professor Michael Karanicolas said a Charter challenge to Canada’s law is almost inevitable.

“If we’re talking about such a significant intervention in the social media space and in the expressive space, there will be organizations that have the resources and the expertise to take a challenge forward and I think it’s very likely that we see litigation around this,” he said.

Karanicolas said social media is effectively the only avenue young people can make their voice heard on political issues, and denying them access silences them.

“People under 16 may not be able to vote, but they have skin in the game when it comes to the political discourse. They are impacted by political decisions that are being made,” he said. “They are the next generation of our leaders. And we want them to be able to engage with the rest of the population on these political questions.”

Both Karanicolas and Tamir Israel, a director at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, brought up the example of Greta Thunberg, who was 15 when she gained international recognition as an environmental activist.

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Israel said Canada’s Bill C-34 shares many of the same features that led the French court to conclude the French law was overly broad and unconstitutional, both in terms of freedom and expression and privacy.

“I imagine for something this novel and this categorical, there will be challenges for sure,” he said.

The Liberal government introduced Bill C-34 in June, which still has to make its way through the Parliamentary process before it becomes law. Social media platforms will be able to obtain an exemption if they have put in place sufficient safeguards to protect children.

The government has not yet released a Charter statement, a document that identifies potential effects on Charter rights and freedoms, for Bill C-34.

Canada is among dozens of countries which began looking at social media age restrictions after Australia became the first country to ban kids from social media in December 2025.