Criminal laws play a crucial role in safeguarding both youth and adults from harm, especially in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape. When new laws are passed, they can create the impression of progress and security. However, the effectiveness of these laws depends entirely on how they are enforced and more importantly the consequences for those who break them. Without effective enforcement, strict penalties, and consistent consequences, these laws become mere symbolic gestures, offering only the illusion of protection rather than real deterrence.
As a former police officer, Darren witnessed firsthand how weak sentences can render even the strongest laws ineffective. In cases of online crimes, some offenders treat a conviction as a minor inconvenience, simply the cost of doing business, rather than a true deterrent. This reality should be a concern for every parent and caregiver. If those who exploit young people online face only minimal consequences where is the deterrence, how can we expect these crimes to decrease? (1) As the Canadian child advocacy group “Not In my City” stated:
“Currently, human trafficking is a low-risk, high-profit business. It must become a high-risk, low-profit business if we want to make a difference.” (2)
While many conversations about online safety focus on individual users, we need to shift our attention to the platforms that allow harmful activities to thrive. Social media companies often claim to have policies in place to prevent illegal activities, but without strong external oversight, these policies frequently function as public relations strategies, and political talking points, rather than effective safeguards.
Some tech companies say they use AI and moderators, to detect harmful content, but investigative reports have shown that harmful material still circulates widely. Why? Because there is no meaningful accountability system forcing these companies to act decisively. More importantly, some platforms, are now decreasing their use of moderation and factchecking to satisfy political agendas. (3)(4)
Don’t misunderstand us, laws that criminalize harmful online behaviour are necessary, but they are not enough. Law enforcement alone cannot keep up with the scale of online crime. Instead of solely focusing on criminal laws that may never be effectively enforced, we need legislation that mandates concrete regulatory requirements for social media companies. These platforms must be held accountable for implementing reasonable measures to prevent their services from being used for criminal activities.
One of the most powerful ways to push companies to prioritize safety is through financial consequences. When failing to prevent criminal activity on their platforms results in substantial financial losses, companies are far more likely to take action. A prime example is the ongoing TikTok controversy, presently in the U.S., where Apple and Google have blocked new downloads of the TikTok app because of the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act”. (5) This law enforces heavy civil penalties for non-compliance, with potential fines reaching an estimated $850 billion. To ensure accountability, hefty fines, loss of advertising revenue, and other financial penalties must become standard when platforms neglect user safety. Will Apple and Google continues to ban this app on their platform, it will depend on what the current US administration does next specific to TikTok.
In industries such as banking and food safety, companies face steep penalties for negligence. If a bank fails to protect customers from fraud, it faces regulatory fines. If a food company sells unsafe products, it is held liable and can face severe financial losses. Why should social media companies be any different when they allow harmful content and exploitation to persist on their platforms?
This is not about stifling innovation or placing an unfair burden on social media companies, something that big tech has been complaining about. (6) It’s about setting a reasonable expectation that they actively work to prevent harm. Just as we have regulations for food safety, automobile manufacturing, and banking, social media must also be held accountable for the role it plays in our digital lives.
Shifting toward strong, enforceable regulations with meaningful financial consequences, we believe can go a long way to create a safer online environment for everyone, especially our children. It’s time to move beyond simply creating new criminal laws and start demanding more from the tech giants profiting from our digital interactions through regulation and legislation. Unfortunately, prorogue here in Canada has killed all legislation that was before parliament specific to holding social media and tech companies accountable. We also suspect that nothing else will happen on this legislative front until after the next election here in Canada.
However, with the ongoing political shifts in the United States, home to many major social media and tech companies, it seems unlikely that significant regulatory changes will happen anytime soon. That said, there is nothing preventing Canadian lawmakers from introducing similar legislation and regulations. The question remains: if other countries take such measures, could the U.S. respond by imposing tariffs to protect its US based digital oligarchs (7)(8) – time will tell!
Digital Food For Thought
The White Hatter
Facts Not Fear, Facts Not Emotions, Enlighten Not Frighten, Know Tech Not No Tech
References:
1/ https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/what-fuels-human-trafficking
3/ https://www.npr.org/2025/01/07/nx-s1-5251151/meta-fact-checking-mark-zuckerberg-trump
5/ https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/7521
7/ https://thewhitehatter.ca/blog/the-warning-of-a-tech-based-oligarchy-what-parents-need-to-know/
