Canada’s social media ban for under-16s likely to face Charter challenge, experts say

Experts say the federal government is likely to face a constitutional challenge to its proposed ban on social media for kids under 16.

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.

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

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

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.

Israel says 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.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 17, 2026