441-00791 (Media and telecommunications)

We, the undersigned residents of Canada, draw the attention of the House to the following:

WHEREAS:

Vulnerable Persons (which may include: any individuals who are susceptible to mistreatment because of the individual's circumstances, as a result but not limited to the individual's age, physical or mental disability, illness, or otherwise, who cannot protect themselves from violence, abuse or neglect) may not be adequately protected on social media platforms on the Internet, and where some persons in Canada or abroad may have intentions to exploit, sexualize or otherwise harm others located in Canada;

Vulnerable Persons may be bullied, targeted, threatened, blackmailed or otherwise harassed by others on the Internet and in particular on social media platforms;

There are currently inadequate controls that exist within existing legislation to sufficiently mitigate the risk of harm to Vulnerable Persons on the Internet and on social media platforms;

Parliament recognizes that the harmful effects of unrestricted access to Vulnerable Persons on the Internet and on social media platforms may include: the creation of sexually explicit material of young persons, online bullying, the proliferation of fraud, child luring instances and long lasting mental effects for victims of these actions;

Parliament recognizes neglect of these issues may cause an increase in public health and public safety concerns;

Social media platforms on the Internet continue to introduce and provide more opportunity for harms to occur to Vulnerable Persons;

Online age-identity verification technology is increasingly sophisticated and can now effectively ascertain the age and identity of users without breaching their privacy rights;

Age-identity verification on social media platforms can significantly reduce: the creation or proliferation of child sex abuse materials, online bullying, instances of fraud and child luring; and

Social media platforms have a responsibility to control access to their platforms by Vulnerable Persons for the mitigation of harm reduction.

THEREFORE, we, the undersigned, call upon Parliament to:

1. Commit to protecting Vulnerable Persons from harm whilst using social media platforms;

2. Create, implement and enforce an Act, Statute, Legislation or Regulation to empower ISPs (internet service providers) to prevent access to social media sites or platforms that ignore or fail to implement reasonable systems to ensure the age and identity of all its users; and

3. Demand of creators of electronic device applications, social media websites or businesses to respect the citizens of Canada by encouraging appropriate restrictions, systems for verification, usage and rules of usage that reflect such regulations.