Canada Bill C-34: Key Provisions of the Digital Safety Act
Summary
Canada’s Bill C-34 proposes a new Digital Safety Act and a new federal regulator to oversee social media platforms, AI chatbots, and certain other online services. The draft law sets out child-safety design duties, age-verification expectations, harmful-content controls, synthetic-content labeling, and recordkeeping requirements. It also gives the regulator broad complaint, investigation, data-access, and enforcement powers, including substantial administrative and criminal penalties. The bill is still at first reading, so the major operational details remain undecided and will depend on future regulations. Vendors that support compliance, age assurance, moderation, audit logging, and governance workflows may find new demand if the bill advances.