# Canada’s first steps towards a social media ban Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-decibel-3326560/canada-s-first-steps-towards-a-social-media-ban Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-decibel-3326560/canada-s-first-steps-towards-a-social-media-ban.md Podcast: [The Decibel](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-decibel-3326560) Published: 2026-06-12T09:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/podcasts/the-decibel/ Audio file: https://afp-119681-injected.calisto.simplecastaudio.com/8b638145-9d42-4003-985c-054905c039a5/episodes/dcd792c2-8445-4870-820e-a78d7518ddac/audio/128/default.mp3?aid=rss_feed&awCollectionId=8b638145-9d42-4003-985c-054905c039a5&awEpisodeId=dcd792c2-8445-4870-820e-a78d7518ddac&feed=TGclX98p Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-decibel-3326560/episodes/canada-s-first-steps-towards-a-social-media-ban Duration seconds: 1593 ## Resource The government’s new Safe Social Media Act, introduced on Wednesday, will require social media companies to block users below the age of 16 from having accounts on their platforms in a move to address online safety. The ban itself is not imminent – the bill has to pass first – but its introduction begs the question: what does a well regulated internet look like? And is that a balance this government is striking? Dr. Michael Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa where he holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law. He’ll take us through the strengths and weaknesses of the legislation, and what he thinks is needed to keep children – and all Canadians – protected online. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-decibel-3326560/episodes/canada-s-first-steps-towards-a-social-media-ban/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-decibel-3326560/canada-s-first-steps-towards-a-social-media-ban.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.