Manitoba’s premier says the province could fine social media and AI companies billions of dollars for not taking proper action to enforce the province’s expected ban of the platforms for youth.
Premier Wab Kinew made the comments to reporters when questioned about his previously announced social media and AI chatbot ban — a move that still doesn’t have a roll-out date.
When asked on Tuesday for the age range he’s considering, Kinew indicated he’s looking to ban it for those 16 and under.
“Our responsibility as politicians is to try and protect young minds while the brains are still developing, while the judgment is still being formed, while resilience is still in development,” he said.
Another factor not addressed when Kinew first floated the idea on Saturday was enforcement, namely age verification and potential fines.
Kinew didn’t specify how age could be verified, but said enforcement would be the responsibility of companies such as Meta, OpenAI and others. He added that enforcement would not be directed at parents or children, saying they want to educate both groups about the impacts.
“In my mind, we have to set the fines in at a level that we’ve never seen in the province before,” Kinew said. “Facebook, Meta, they’re going to spend more money on data centres this year than the entire size of all of Manitoba’s economy. So, like, we can’t fine them 10-grand, 100-grand, a million dollars … So the enforcement is going to have to include a fine framework and they’re going to be bigger fines than you’ve ever seen in Manitoba before, probably with some numbers that have Bs in them.”
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On Saturday, Kinew said Manitoba would be the first province to ban social media but the federal government and other provinces have signalled they too are looking at potential actions.
The federal Liberals party voted earlier this month to set 16 as the age for Canadians to be able to use social media accounts.
Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra has also said the province is considering a social media ban, but told reporters on Tuesday he wants to work with the federal government to “eliminate” children’s access to social media platforms.
“I think we have to do a lot more than just saying you can’t have access to it in our schools, I’m very, very troubled by this,” Calandra said.
In statements to Global News, both the Alberta and Nova Scotia governments said they’re watching the developments of other jurisdictions on social media bans but no restrictions are being planned at this time. Nova Scotia added it would “strongly support” the federal government holding tech giants accountable and building stronger online safeguards.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has said his government plans to ask the public for their views on a ban.
Kinew was questioned Tuesday about consulting with youth over concerns that cutting off social media access could leave some children and teens isolated, but the premier said the platforms pose more harm than good.
“What would we say to a young person who argues that they need to vape in order to form friendships? We would say that the harm outweighs any potential benefit. The same is true for social media,” Kinew said. He went on to reference impacts such as self-harm or misinformation on measles.
He did leave the door open to consulting with youth, however, before moving ahead.
The premier still did not specify how soon legislation implementing such a ban could occur, only saying “as soon as possible,” but added he has no plans to wait for other jurisdictions to implement their own.
“If other folks do this, that would be great. If we’re the only one doing this, I really can’t foresee a situation where we’re really the only ones in Canada this. I think everyone will move in this direction,” he said.
“We’re doing it one way or the other.”
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