Manitoba could become the first Canadian province to ban social media and AI chatbots for kids. Premier Wab Kinew made the announcement at a fundraiser over the weekend, calling out platforms that exploit children's attention for profit.
"They're doing these very awful things to kids all in the name of a few likes, all in the name of more engagement, and all in the name of money," Kinew said. "Our kids will never be for sale and their attention and their childhoods should never be profited from."
The big question is how this would actually work. Kinew didn't share specifics on age cutoffs, timing, or enforcement mechanisms. He also didn't take questions from reporters after his remarks.
This isn't happening in isolation. Canada's Liberal Party recently voted to support restricting social media and AI chatbots for anyone under 16. Other proposals floating around would set the bar even lower at 14, which is stricter than Australia's recent ban.
For anyone building or using AI tools, this matters because chatbot restrictions could affect how conversational AI products are designed and deployed. If age verification becomes mandatory, it adds friction to user onboarding and raises privacy concerns about collecting data to prove someone's age.
There's also a practical problem with these bans. A recent poll from the Molly Rose Foundation found that most teens still have accounts on banned platforms or have figured out ways around the restrictions. That suggests enforcement is harder than it sounds, especially for AI chatbots that don't always require account creation.
The trend is clear though. Governments are increasingly viewing AI chatbots through the same lens as social media when it comes to protecting minors. That could shape product development and compliance requirements for AI companies operating in Canada and beyond.
