Who Will Help Calgary Parents Save Kids From Social Media's Grip?

[CALGARY, AB] — Three-quarters of Canadians want kids under 16 off social media. The research backs them up. The question now is who's actually going to do something about it.

The Numbers Don't Lie — But the Responsibility Does

A new Angus Reid Institute study dropped March 30th, and the headline figure is striking: 75% of Canadians support a full ban on social media for anyone under 16. Among parents with kids at home, support sits at 70%. These aren't close calls. They're a mandate looking for a government.

The concern driving those numbers is near-unanimous. Ninety-four percent of Canadians are worried about addiction and negative mental health impacts on children from social media. Ninety-two percent flag misinformation. Ninety percent, cyberbullying. A California court recently landed a landmark ruling labelling Instagram and YouTube as deliberately addictive and harmful to kids — not a fringe opinion anymore, but a legal finding. Australia has already moved, becoming the first country to implement a hard ban for under-16s. Canada is watching, nodding, and reportedly getting ready to talk about it at the Liberal Party convention in April.

Talk. In April. Sure.

Parents Want the Ban — Just Don't Ask Them to Enforce It

Here's where it gets interesting. Seventy-two percent of Canadians say regulating kids' social media use is the parents' job. Only 20% think it should fall to government. Yet 75% want a government ban. That's not a contradiction so much as an exhausted electorate quietly admitting the current system isn't working — and hoping someone else will formalize what they're already trying to do at home.

Most parents with kids aged 10 to 15 are already in the fight: restricting apps, monitoring activity, capping screen time. They're doing the labour. They just want the law to back them up so they're not the only wall standing between their kid and a TikTok algorithm engineered by people whose own children attend screen-free schools in Silicon Valley.

When Canadians who support partial bans are asked which platforms should go first for under-16s, TikTok leads at 88%, followed by X/Twitter at 86% and Snapchat at 84%. YouTube, perhaps because of its educational utility, is cited far less — only 48% would pull it for minors. That distinction matters when any future legislation starts drawing lines.

The Tumbler Ridge Shadow

Folded into the same study is a question that hits harder than any platform debate: what should AI companies be required to report? The Tumbler Ridge shooting — still raw — revealed that the suspect had been banned by OpenAI seven months before the attack. OpenAI didn't alert authorities. Their threshold: "credible and imminent planning" of serious violence. The account didn't meet it.

Now, 32% of Canadians say AI companies should be required to report activity that's merely "potentially illegal." A larger share — 45% — say only confirmed illegal activity should trigger a report. No consensus. No policy. A community in northern B.C. paid the price for that gap.

There's a version of this story where Canada gets serious, follows Australia's lead, and builds an actual enforcement framework with teeth — age verification, platform accountability, real consequences. There's another version where the Liberals debate it in April, release a statement, and Calgary parents keep confiscating phones at dinner.

Sixty-one percent of Canadians already believe teenagers aren't capable of using social media responsibly. The only group still undecided appears to be Parliament.