Press & Media: Blog / 2024
Legislated age assurance requirement needed to ensure regulated services fulfil their child specific duties under proposed Online Harms Act
This briefing note is to inform readers about the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s (C3Ps) view that the absence of any provision in Canada’s proposed Online Harms Act (Bill C-63) related to age assurance requirements casts doubt on the ability of regulated online service providers to fulfil their child-user specific duties, creating a significant gap in the effectiveness of the proposed online safety regime. C3P recommends amendments to the draft Online Harms Act to include age assurance provisions or for the government to clarify how it expects such measures would be included in regulation.
Exclusion of private messaging features from proposed Online Harms Act leaves a substantial threat to children unaddressed
This briefing note is to inform readers about the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s view that Canada’s proposed Online Harms Act (Bill C-63) ought to be amended to ensure private messaging services and certain aspects of private messaging features be subject to regulation, given that a significant amount of harm experienced by children occurs in these exact digital environments.