The Manitoba government will move to ban children from using social media accounts and artificial intelligence chatbots, Premier Wab Kinew told fellow New Democrats on Saturday night.
Kinew told some 900 people at a party fundraiser that the province plans to protect kids from technology platforms that he says hurt their development.
“These tools have been designed by … people who understand our psychology, who understand our biology. And they have designed these tools and optimized them to hack our children’s reward system in their brain,” Kinew said.
“These are forces that contribute to anxiety and depression. These are forces that lead to young women being trafficked.”
Kinew did not reveal details of his plan, such as the age limit he is considering or how a provincial government might have jurisdiction over international platforms. He did not speak to reporters after his speech.
Australia became the first country last December to create a law enforcing age limits on social media accounts, and introduced fines for companies found non-compliant.
Federal Liberal party members recently passed a non-binding resolution with the same idea, and Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the idea merits consideration.
Culture Minister Marc Miller said earlier this month the government is “very seriously” considering a social media ban for kids, and would leave it to an expert panel, currently examining online harms, to weigh in on whether the bill should also cover AI chatbots.