Photo: Leafsfan67 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).
By Jon Scarr
Video games aren't covered by Canada's proposed under-16 social media account restriction, but they're now part of the discussion in Ottawa. When MPs debated Bill C-34 on October 28th, they raised concerns about Roblox and Discord, including how children can communicate with strangers through gaming and messaging services.
Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, would introduce new child-safety duties for regulated online services and restrict social media accounts for children under 16. Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller is open to additional safety rules for gaming platforms, although he isn't proposing to extend that age restriction to games. Marie Woolf first reported his comments for The Globe and Mail.
There's also an earlier connection to Canada's video game industry. A federal lobbying report records a communication on May 5th involving the Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC), Miller and senior policy adviser Darren Choi. Player safety was among the registered subjects, months before Bill C-34 was introduced. The report doesn't establish that the proposed legislation was discussed.
MPs Raise Roblox and Discord During Bill C-34 Debate
Conservative MP Connie Cody questioned whether Bill C-34 would protect children who move from restricted social media services to gaming and messaging platforms. She pointed to Australia's experience, where some teenagers continued accessing restricted services or moved elsewhere online. Roblox and Discord weren't included in Australia's initial restrictions, despite offering ways for children and adults to communicate.
Cody also questioned how well age checks would work. She warned that children could get around them, and that collecting identifying information introduces privacy concerns.
Liberal MP Danielle Martin supported Bill C-34 but acknowledged concerns about gaming platforms. Participants in a summer community roundtable she organized raised similar questions about children's online safety. Martin argued that lawmakers need to examine how these services operate and how children use them, rather than relying solely on how companies describe them.
Martin also cautioned against cutting vulnerable young people off from online communities where they can find help.
Gaming had already come up in Parliament on October 21st. Bloc Québécois MP Martin Champoux called for industry representatives to participate in discussions about child safety. He described the industry's self-regulation favourably and said it had experience identifying potentially predatory behaviour.
Watch the October 28th House of Commons proceedings on CPAC.
ESAC Met With Marc Miller Before Bill C-34 Was Introduced
The filing lists four subjects. Alongside player safety, they include healthy play and digital literacy, purchases within games, and privacy and data protection.
ESAC wants player-safety policies to be based on evidence and to recognize how video games actually work. There's no transcript, and the filing doesn't establish that Bill C-34 came up.
ESAC president and CEO Paul Fogolin is named as the responsible officer who filed the report. The registry cautions that this doesn't necessarily mean he participated in the communication.
During Video Games on the Hill on September 22nd, ESAC brought Canadian game developers and publishers together with federal officials. Player safety was among the roundtable subjects, and Miller spoke at the event's reception. The available records don't establish whether ESAC supports extending Bill C-34 to gaming platforms.
Bill C-34 Leaves Room for Additional Online Services
The federal government introduced Bill C-34 on June 10th. The legislation would establish the Digital Safety Act and a Digital Safety Commission. Its proposed under-16 account restriction applies to regulated social media services, subject to an exemption process. It doesn't automatically extend to gaming platforms.
Section 5 provides a way to add categories of online services. The proposed commission would first have to assess whether a category poses a significant risk of harm to children in Canada. It would then report its findings and recommend action before cabinet could establish the category through regulations. Services would still need to meet the bill's requirements to be regulated.
Private messaging also came under scrutiny during the debate. Section 11 excludes qualifying private messaging features from duties imposed on regulated social media services and other regulated online services.
Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman questioned that exclusion. She also asked whether gaming platforms would be covered by the legislation at all. That leaves two questions: whether gaming services need additional child-safety rules and whether those rules would cover private communication between players.
As of October 29th, Bill C-34 is still at second reading. No gaming-specific extension has been adopted, and ESAC's position on expanding the proposed rules to gaming platforms remains unconfirmed.
Jon Scarr
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