Mr. Speaker, the final petition I am tabling today draws the attention of the House to concerns about risks to young people online.
Petitioners highlight that smart phones give Canadian children direct access to harmful online content, with children getting their own devices at increasingly young ages, and that algorithm-driven social media platforms are designed to keep users hooked, harming youth mental health and well-being. They also highlight that rising social media use among young Canadians is contributing to a worsening mental health crisis, putting added strain on health care and social services. Parents find it difficult to limit social media access across devices and apps, especially when young people can be accessing these different things on devices that are not their own.
Petitioners point out that Australia has recognized these concerns and set of minimum social media age of 16, and similar laws are being debated in New Zealand, Sweden and Spain, reflecting growing global awareness. Further, they point out that social media and smart phone access exposes children to pornographic and other harmful online content at an early age with no meaningful age verification laws in place to offer protection.
Therefore, petitioners ask the Government of Canada to establish a minimum age of 18 for accessing social media platforms, supported by effective age verification, and also to support Bill S-209, an act to restrict young persons' access to online pornographic material.