

Stop Bill C-34: Account Bans Put Teen Safety at Risk
The Issue
To: The Parliament of Canada, Minister of Canadian Heritage, and the Digital Safety Commission While protecting children online is vital, the current framework of Bill C-34 (The Safe Social Media Act) is fundamentally flawed. By focusing strictly on a blanket ban on social media accounts for anyone under 16, this bill creates dangerous new problems without solving existing online harms.We demand that Parliament amend Bill C-34 to shift away from account bans and focus instead on forcing platforms to fix their algorithms.Why Bill C-34 Fails to Protect Youth: It Strips Away Safety and Reporting Tools: Forcing youth off registered accounts does not stop them from viewing content. Instead, it forces them to browse anonymously. Without an account, young users completely lose access to blocking, filtering, and reporting tools, leaving them entirely defenseless if harmful content slips through. It Destroys Community Defense Networks: Comment sections and user-to-user alerts are vital tools for internet safety. When a community flags dangerous content or warns others in the comments, it accelerates takedown speeds. An account ban removes youth from this proactive safety network . It Punishes Safe, Creative Expression : Millions of teens use social media safely to upload harmless content, share original art, build digital literacy, and find supportive communities. Kicking them off platforms strips away their voice and creative outlets . Our Demand: We call on the Government of Canada to change the focus of Bill C-34 from an account ban to a Safety-by-Design mandate . Force tech companies to disable predatory algorithms, stop infinite scrolling, and clean up their feeds for everyone, rather than taking away the very tools youth need to report and flag harm online.

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The Issue
To: The Parliament of Canada, Minister of Canadian Heritage, and the Digital Safety Commission While protecting children online is vital, the current framework of Bill C-34 (The Safe Social Media Act) is fundamentally flawed. By focusing strictly on a blanket ban on social media accounts for anyone under 16, this bill creates dangerous new problems without solving existing online harms.We demand that Parliament amend Bill C-34 to shift away from account bans and focus instead on forcing platforms to fix their algorithms.Why Bill C-34 Fails to Protect Youth: It Strips Away Safety and Reporting Tools: Forcing youth off registered accounts does not stop them from viewing content. Instead, it forces them to browse anonymously. Without an account, young users completely lose access to blocking, filtering, and reporting tools, leaving them entirely defenseless if harmful content slips through. It Destroys Community Defense Networks: Comment sections and user-to-user alerts are vital tools for internet safety. When a community flags dangerous content or warns others in the comments, it accelerates takedown speeds. An account ban removes youth from this proactive safety network . It Punishes Safe, Creative Expression : Millions of teens use social media safely to upload harmless content, share original art, build digital literacy, and find supportive communities. Kicking them off platforms strips away their voice and creative outlets . Our Demand: We call on the Government of Canada to change the focus of Bill C-34 from an account ban to a Safety-by-Design mandate . Force tech companies to disable predatory algorithms, stop infinite scrolling, and clean up their feeds for everyone, rather than taking away the very tools youth need to report and flag harm online.

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Petition created on June 24, 2026