The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has launched a national campaign urging Canadians to contact their MPs and oppose Bill C-34, the federal government's proposed Safe Social Media Act, arguing the legislation would hand Ottawa unprecedented control over online speech, social media access and artificial intelligence.Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller introduced the bill on June 10, saying the legislation is designed to combat online harms by ensuring social media platforms and AI chatbots address harmful content before it appears.However, the Calgary-based constitutional advocacy group says the legislation extends far beyond protecting children and preventing criminal activity online.According to the Justice Centre, Bill C-34 would effectively ban Canadians under the age of 16 from accessing social media through mandatory age-verification and age-estimation requirements. The organization argues that, in practice, all Canadians would be required to verify their age and identity in order to use social media platforms."If the legislation passes, Canadians will be forced to surrender more personal information to the government or foreign social media companies in order to express their views, participate in public discourse and access information," the group said.The Justice Centre is also raising concerns about provisions governing artificial intelligence chatbots.The organization says sections 48 through 58 of the bill would effectively regulate both what Canadians can ask AI systems and what AI systems can say in response. .It argues that AI companies facing potentially severe penalties for non-compliance — up to 3% of global revenue — would be pressured to monitor private conversations and potentially report lawful communications to authorities.The group further warns that section 53(e) would grant future regulators broad authority to determine what information AI chatbots may provide Canadians.Part 2 of the legislation would establish a Digital Safety Commission composed of three to five full-time members appointed by the federal cabinet. The commission would be given broad powers to regulate online content.The Justice Centre cited concerns raised by University of Ottawa law professor and privacy expert Michael Geist, who has argued that the federal cabinet and Digital Safety Commission would be empowered to decide dozens of major policy questions not explicitly addressed in the legislation.According to Geist, those decisions could include determining which social media platforms and AI companies fall under the law, defining what constitutes "significant psychological or physical harm" and deciding how restrictions on minors' social media access will be implemented.The Justice Centre argues Parliament would have limited oversight over many of those decisions.As part of its campaign, the organization is encouraging Canadians to use its online letter-writing platform to send pre-written letters to their MPs and Prime Minister Mark Carney opposing the legislation.The federal government has maintained that Bill C-34 is intended to protect Canadians, particularly children, from harmful online content and emerging digital threats.
