Internet & Online Safety · Canada
Online safety & content laws in Canada (2026)
Canada shaded by its internet & online safety status
Canada has no comprehensive DSA/UK-OSA-style online-safety law in force; the flagship Online Harms Act (Bill C-63) died when Parliament was prorogued in January 2025. Current obligations are partial, resting on existing Criminal Code offences (hate propaganda, non-consensual intimate images, child sexual abuse material) and the 2011 Act requiring internet services to report child sexual abuse material. Several replacement and adjacent bills are actively moving through Parliament in 2026 (age verification, anti-hate, CSAM-reporting modernization), and the government reconvened its expert advisory group in March 2026 to design new online-harms legislation.
Key points
The Online Harms Act (Bill C-63), introduced 26 Feb 2024, would have created a Digital Safety Commission, an Ombudsperson, mandatory 'digital safety plans' and platform duties to reduce seven categories of harmful content. It died on the Order Paper when Parliament was prorogued on 6 January 2025 and has not been reintroduced as a single comprehensive bill.
The 2011 Act respecting the mandatory reporting of Internet child pornography (in force 8 Dec 2011) requires internet-service providers to report addresses hosting child sexual abuse material to Cybertip.ca and to notify police where their service is used for such offences, with data-preservation duties — a long-standing partial platform obligation.
Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, would redefine 'Internet service' so the reporting regime expressly covers online platforms, social media and app-based services with a 'connection to Canada', and extend the data-preservation period from 21 days to one year.
The Senate-originated 'Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act' (Bill S-209) would criminalize commercially making sexually explicit material available to under-18s without age verification, and allow court-ordered ISP blocking of non-compliant sites. The Senate passed it; as of April 2026 it was before the House of Commons. Critics warn its age-assurance and site-blocking tools could extend broadly to social media, search and AI services.
The Combatting Hate Act (Bill C-9) carries forward the hate-related elements once bundled in C-63: new Criminal Code offences including publicly displaying hate/terrorism symbols to promote hatred, and removal of the religious-belief defence. It passed third reading in the House of Commons (26 March 2026) and is at second reading in the Senate.
The government has signalled it will not 'copy and paste' C-63 and reconvened its Expert Advisory Group on Online Safety in March 2026 to inform fresh online-harms legislation, with engagement from the Culture and Digital Innovation ministers and a stated aim to target only 'clearly harmful content' in a Charter-compliant way.
Timeline - major decisions & events
The CRTC raised the base contribution rate for large foreign streaming services (Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video with $25M+ Canadian revenue) from 5% to 15% of annual Canadian revenues to fund Canadian and Indigenous content, intensifying a U.S. trade dispute and triggering Federal Court of Appeal challenges.
Global News ↗Prorogation of Parliament following PM Trudeau's resignation announcement killed the proposed Online Harms Act, which would have created a digital safety regulator and duties for platforms to address harmful content; it never became law.
Parliament of Canada (LEGISinfo) ↗Justice Minister Arif Virani moved to separate the controversial Criminal Code and Canadian Human Rights Act hate-speech amendments from the core Online Harms Act provisions, aiming to advance the platform-safety framework on its own.
Amnesty International Canada ↗Under the Online Streaming Act, the CRTC ordered online undertakings with $25M+ in annual Canadian revenue and not affiliated with a Canadian broadcaster to contribute 5% of revenues to funds supporting Canadian and Indigenous content, effective the 2024-25 broadcast year.
CRTC ↗The federal government tabled Bill C-63 to set a baseline duty for online platforms to protect users—especially children—from harmful content such as child sexual exploitation and content inciting violence, and to create a Digital Safety Commission.
Department of Justice Canada ↗The CRTC's first regulatory step under the Online Streaming Act required non-exempt online streaming services operating in Canada to register by November 28, 2023, and adhere to conditions of service, bringing internet broadcasters under the regulatory framework.
CRTC ↗The first major reform of the Broadcasting Act since 1991 brought streaming and online undertakings under CRTC jurisdiction, empowering the regulator to impose Canadian content and contribution obligations on internet platforms.
Government of Canada (Canadian Heritage) ↗CASL's commercial electronic message rules took effect, prohibiting unsolicited messages and unauthorized installation of computer programs, and empowering the CRTC to levy penalties up to $10M per violation—a foundational online-conduct enforcement regime.
CRTC ↗This law obliged internet service providers to report child sexual abuse material to the designated body (Canadian Centre for Child Protection) and notify police of suspected offences, establishing a core online child-protection duty.
Justice Laws Website (Government of Canada) ↗The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act set ground rules for how private-sector organizations collect, use and disclose personal information in commercial activities, including online—Canada's foundational digital privacy framework, phased in through 2004.
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada ↗Canada - other topics
Last verified 5/23/2026 · Orientation, not legal advice - verify against the primary sources linked above. Explore the full world map →