Manitoba's social media ban could bar teachers using YouTube in the classroom, says Kinew

Manitoba premiere Wab Kinew says his province's censor on societal media and AI chatbots for kids testament potential bar teachers using YouTube in the classroom — a move that comes as the federal government continues to deliberate over whether to enact its own restrictions.

"Even YouTube Kids has some of those addictive features like autoplay and the recommendation engine attached to them," Kinew told host Catherine Cullen.

The premier noted that if YouTube can create a version of its product without those features, it could be allowable "with supervision, of course, for a younger age group."

Manitoba's social media and AI chatbot ban for kids, unveiled last month, would be the first of its kind in Canada. The province has said Manitobans can expect to see the first phase roll out in schools, like it did with cellphones in 2024.

Manitoba aims for first-in-Canada ban on social media, AI chatbots

At the federal level, Culture Minister Marc Miller said last month that the government was "very seriously" considering a similar move, but no decision had been made.

Miller's comments came after Liberal Party members passed two non-binding resolutions urging the federal government to prevent users under the age of 16 from having social media accounts, and banning those same kids from accessing AI chatbots.

On Friday, news outlet The Logic — citing unnamed sources — reported that the federal government is proceeding with restrictions on social media and is now debating whether to extend those rules to AI chatbots.

At Sacred Heart High School in Stittsville, a suburb of Ottawa, students have mixed feelings about what a ban on social media would mean for their lives. 

Sasha, who will turn 16 in November, said a federal ban wouldn't mean "too long of a wait" if it's imposed soon, but she would "absolutely hate it" during the first month. Instead of a ban, she said she'd prefer better guidance from schools and parents.

That said, Sasha acknowledged a ban would give her more free time to pursue her hobbies."I might not have the same need to even use it again anymore," she said.

Mya, who just turned 16, said she grew up as if there was already a ban because her parents restricted her social media use. "I am just very grateful for it," she told The House. "Kids my age will spend like six hours sometimes minimum on their phone a day."

She said she prefers to use that time to "plow" through books.

"I read like 75 last year," she said. "My screen time is really low, but it's because I don't have anything to do on my phone that's worth my time."

But all of the students who spoke to The House and who use social media regularly said they oppose a ban, arguing the benefits of their favourite apps outweigh the harms.

Kashvi and Tyler, students in grades 9 and 10 respectively, agreed there are some harmful aspects, like shortened attention spans and cyberbullying. But used in a healthy way, social media can also help kids make friends, they said.

"Are you going to ban skiing because some people go flying in the trees and crashing? Or should you teach that person how to ski and keep skiing legal, right?" Tyler said.

Tyler said he uses Instagram's timer feature to self-regulate the amount of time he spends on the app.

"It was built in," Tyler said. "I didn't even have to go into settings to do it."

Rachel Curran, Meta Canada's head of public policy, said if the federal government proceeds with a ban, the company will comply.

"We just don't think a ban is the most effective way to get at the concerns that parents and policymakers are expressing, some of which are very legitimate," Curran told Cullen. She added it's incorrect to assume Meta wants the fewest restrictions possible.

She pointed to Australia where restrictions are currently in effect, but children under 16 are circumventing age verification measures by using private networks, family accounts or filters to trick scanners.

According to a report from Australia's eSafety Commissioner released in March, about three months after its ban came into effect, around seven in 10 parents reported their children still had accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok.

Asked how, the most common reason cited by Australian parents was that the platform had not yet asked their children to verify their age.

Curran said the industry at large has a challenge with age verification, and said Meta uses a combination of AI technology and identification documents to accurately determine users' ages.

"But the technology on age verification is only so good, and it's not improving rapidly enough to ensure that we can really accurately verify the age that a user is," she explained.

Is Australia’s social media ban for kids working — and is Canada next?

Curran suggested the federal government could instead pursue ban on a wide range of apps for kids under 13 or 14, and set incremental protections for older teens.

"So you could do this sort of tiered age protection that allows teens incrementally more responsibility and independence, while providing parents with controls that they can use as appropriate," she suggested.

In his interview, Kinew said if the federal government announces its own restrictions, Manitoba will still proceed with its vision but would "very much work" with Ottawa.

"We have a moral responsibility as a government to protect children in Manitoba from what is ... Very clearly understood as a big source of harm — broadly in our society, but also very specifically with young people," Kinew said.

Regarding age verification technology, Kinew said the province does not want a ban to be "a back-door way for Meta to hoover up all of the private information of our kids."

Canada 'very seriously' considering social media, AI age restrictions, Miller says

"Our kids are not for sale," Kinew said. "Their childhoods are not data points to be commodified and add another billion to Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk or ... Sam Altman's big pile of money."

Curran denies profit is what’s driving Meta on this file.

"We are as interested, if not more interested than the government, in safe, positive experiences for youth on our platforms," Curran said. "It is not good for our business if teens, if youth are not having good experiences online and on our platforms. So we share that objective, and I think we can work together towards achieving that."

Associate Producer

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