Bill C-34, An Act to enact the Digital Safety Act and the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts (Safe Social Media Act)

Summary

Online-harms bill creating a Digital Safety Act and Digital Safety Commission. AI chatbot services are expressly regulated, with a duty to protect children and a chatbot-specific duty to act responsibly (reduce risks of harmful content and behaviour, emergency measures in crises); social media services must label synthetically generated content and make non-consensual intimate content, including sexual deepfakes, inaccessible.

Safety topics

Scope

Borderline scope Online-safety bill with AI chatbot and synthetic-content duties; the existing scope_note fits.

Status notes

First reading in the House of Commons on 10 June 2026 (sitting 133). LEGISinfo lists the bill as at second reading in the House of Commons, with no second-reading activity, no recorded votes and no major speeches. The Digital Safety Commission would set details of the obligations by regulation, including age estimation and verification and design features such as labelling tools; for social media services the government intends a minimum age of 16 for accounts. The bill was informed by the Expert Advisory Group on Online Safety, reconvened from March to May 2026.

Sources

Open the official source https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/45-1/c-34

Secondary source: https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/safe-social-media-act.html

Local copy

Verification

History

1. 2026-10-18related: [{"slug": "ca-national-ai-strategy-2026", "id": "CA-07"}] → [{"slug": "ca-national-ai-strategy-2026", "id": "CA-07"}, {"id": "CA-02", "slug" — two-way link added: CA-02 link(s) to CA-082026-10-18-fix-related-links · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
2. 2026-10-18scope_note: An online-safety bill rather than a general AI law; included because it regulate → Online-safety bill with AI chatbot and synthetic-content duties; the existing sc — pipeline run 2026-10-17-recheck-north-america-1 (recheck), candidate CA-082026-10-17-recheck-north-america-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
3. 2026-10-18notes: First reading 10 June 2026; LEGISinfo shows the bill awaiting second reading in → First reading in the House of Commons on 10 June 2026 (sitting 133). LEGISinfo l — rewritten: the status details stated without the check date (which moved to verification.note); the Commission's regulation-making, the intended minimum age of 16 and the expert advisory group added2026-10-17-recheck-north-america-1 · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
4. 2026-10-14scope_note: – → An online-safety bill rather than a general AI law; included because it regulate — borderline under the include-and-flag rules of issue #22026-10-14-issue-2-scope-notes · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)
5. 2026-10-14notes: First reading 10 June 2026; LEGISinfo shows the bill awaiting second reading in → First reading 10 June 2026; LEGISinfo shows the bill awaiting second reading in — scope caveat moved to scope_note2026-10-14-issue-2-scope-notes · Claude Code (claude-opus-5-5)

Related records

Canada National AI Strategy (AI for All) Canada · Published (non-binding, current)

AIDA Canada · Lapsed

Citation

Parliament of Canada (Government bill sponsored by the Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture). Bill C-34, An Act to enact the Digital Safety Act and the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts (Safe Social Media Act) [Bill C-34 (45th Parliament, 1st Session)]. 2026-06-10. https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bill/45-1/c-34. Status: Draft / proposed; verified 2026-10-18 (level A). Local copy archive/CA-08/2026-10-11/official.html retrieved 2026-10-11 13:59:39 UTC, SHA-256 173312f5d9874a380066a11ff8362e27611e86f88ac748a75f76aa71454ac06e. Every AI Policy Ever, version 1.18 (snapshot 2026-10-18), record CA-08.

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