The law will make platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to $45 million for failing to prevent children under 16 from having accounts.

“We were pleased to see this measure approved by the Australian government. This gave us hope for what we were proposing,” declared Aurélie Diep, president of the youth wing of the CAQ, in an interview. “So for us it’s very positive news.”

Quebec Premier François Legault first ridiculed the idea of ​​a minimum age for social media when it was proposed by the opposition Parti Québécois in May. But he changed his mind after Diep published an open letter calling for a ban on social media accounts for children under 16.

Shortly after, the government chose to create a special commission to study the effects of screens on young people, including the possibility of a ban.

Diep, 22, said she started using social media when she was 14 or 15, although some of her friends encouraged her to join earlier by lying about her age. Platforms like Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat all require users to be at least 13 years old. She said young people are having trouble concentrating and losing sleep because of the time spent on their phones.

“In the evening, before going to bed, I say to myself ‘one last look at Instagram and then I’m going to bed’,” she says. “And then I could spend an hour on it.”

In May, La Presse published the results of a poll showing that 71 percent of adults surveyed in Quebec said they were in favor of a ban on social media for minors.

The special committee has just completed a two-week tour of 18 schools. Amélie Dionne, a CAQ MP who chairs the committee, said she had heard from many students in favor of a ban, but many also said they lied about their age to create social media accounts.

“There is a certain paradox there,” she says. “The big observation we made from this tour is… that in fact, young people want to be supervised, they want to have supervision.”

Still, the select committee has heard varying opinions since it began holding hearings in the fall, with some experts suggesting a ban could further isolate vulnerable children.

“I don’t think it’s desirable… for young people who will seek a lot of social support on social networks, in online communities,” Emmanuelle Parent, co-founder of an organization that promotes healthy habits, told the committee. line. September. “I don’t think it will solve the cyberbullying issues either.”

Sara Eve Levac, an attorney at Option consommateurs, a nonprofit focused on consumer rights, said there are privacy concerns regarding age verification. “There is currently no silver bullet for verifying a child’s age to access digital platforms,” she told the commission.

Diep said there are ways to improve age verification, such as asking parents to validate their children’s ages when opening social media accounts.

Dionne said the committee will take a closer look after the holidays at how a minimum age could be enforced. The commission is expected to publish its report by the end of May 2025.

Australian law requires social media platforms to take reasonable steps to exclude users under the age of 16, but it does not specify what those steps are. Platforms will have one year to determine how to implement the ban before sanctions are applied. A government-commissioned review of age guarantee technologies will report in mid-2025 on how young children could be excluded.

Quebec banned cell phones in elementary and secondary school classrooms starting in January, but they can still be used between classes. Education Minister Bernard Drainville said the government wants to ban the use of cell phones in schools altogether.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published November 29, 2024.

— With files from The Associated Press.

Maura Forrest, The Canadian Press