Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, was introduced in June and is intended to make social media services and AI chatbots safer for children (under 16).
How does the Safe Social Media Act (Bill C-34) affect libraries?
The Safe Social Media Act (Bill C-34, first reading June 10, 2026) would enact legislation to make online services responsible for addressing harmful content and creating a safer online space, especially for children (under 16).
The proposed legislation will create safety requirements for regulated social media services and AI chatbot services to provide protection against online harms. The affected services will be defined by regulation.
Could libraries be included within the regulated services?
The definition of online service is that it allows users “to interact with the website or application,” however, it excludes websites with the primary purpose of listing goods or services, providing directories, or providing search results. Most libraries online services are likely to be excluded.
For both online services and social media services, those that are regulated will be determined based on the number of users, which will be provided in regulation. The regulations are not yet available.
What is CFLA doing for the Safe Social Media Act (Bill C-34)?
CFLA will monitor discussions on this bill to identify if online services and social media services used by libraries in Canada are likely to be captured by the regulations and respond if necessary.
Click here for more on the Safe Social Media Act
Scope of Future Monthly Updates
The scope of CFLA-FCAB policy news updates will be national policy that affects the delivery of library services, issued by the federal government through legislation or significant decisions. We’ll also include international policy activities through IFLA that affect Canada, such as UN organization statements or new IFLA policies, and national library policy, such as metadata standards. Updates will include statements or communication from CFLA on the topic, and resources from member associations when relevant.
When time-sensitive issues arise, CFLA-FCAB may send additional updates.