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Manitoba could turn to classrooms as the first place to ban children from using social media and artificial intelligence chatbots, and one young advocate is urging the province to work with those it’s aiming to protect.
Tracy Schmidt, the province’s education minister, says Manitobans can expect to see the ban’s first phase rolled out in schools, likening it to when the government first banned cellphones in classrooms in 2024.
“This is very early days. A step like this is going to certainly take legislative and regulatory processes,” she said at an unrelated event Monday.
“But I know that something we’re talking about right away is how we can roll this out in schools as soon as possible.”
Premier Wab Kinew announced the ban over the weekend. Details on how the province could enact it remain unclear, including how it would have jurisdiction over international platforms.
Schmidt didn’t provide answers on what the rollout would look like or a timeline.
She said the province is consulting with school divisions, the community and parents on what the ban in schools could look like.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said social media platforms are ‘doing these very awful things to kids all in the name of a few likes,’ and he’s vowing to fight back by banning youth from using these platforms, along with AI chatbots.
Kinew told supporters at an NDP fundraiser Saturday that the province plans to protect kids from technology platforms he says hurt their development.
One Winnipeg school division welcomed the news but cautioned an outright ban on AI may be more of a hindrance than a benefit.
“We want to be careful to think about a young person alone using AI on social media late at night and how that’s a different reality from a student using a purpose-built tutoring tool under the teacher’s guidance in a classroom,” said Christian Michalik, superintendent of the Louis Riel School Division.
The division has been developing its own AI tools: an internal system for teachers supports them with planning and assessments, and one for students — in its pilot phase — acts as a tutoring assistant but doesn’t complete the student’s work.
Michalik said the first he heard of the ban was on the weekend, but the topic has been top of mind for some time. Schools have seen unhealthy social media interactions play out in classrooms, including incidents of violence and bullying.
Since the cellphone ban came into place, the division has seen a positive change in the well-being of students, he added.
Currently, students in kindergarten to Grade 8 are not allowed to use cellphones at all, while students in grades 9 through 12 are allowed to use the devices during breaks and lunch.
Michalik said the province and schools will have to revisit how it’s approaching the existing cellphone ban, if it’s to be extended to social media.
“Legislation and education really have to work together here,” he said. “We do have to work at this together. And we do want to get it right.”
A representative with the province’s child and youth advocate agrees with a ban on social media but said children should have been consulted before it was announced.
“There’s just a ban for this group of people who doesn’t have a voice as is. Like, they can’t vote, they don’t really have the ability to put their input into what’s going on, and this is one more thing that we’ve just kind of thrust upon them without offering any solutions,” said Quinn Bloomfield, 18, a member of the office’s Youth Ambassador Advisory Squad.
He said those in his peer group recognize the downfalls and addictive qualities of social media but are often forced into these spaces because of a lack of real-world places to socialize.
Bloomfield would like the ban’s legislation driven by children’s suggestions and to see the province invest in things such as more drop-in spaces.
“Just things to foster the ability for kids to engage with the world without relying on devices,” he said.
In December, Australia became the first country to create a law enforcing age limits on social media accounts, and it introduced fines for companies found non-compliant.
Federal Culture Minister Marc Miller said earlier this month the government is seriously considering it and would leave it up to an expert panel, currently examining online harms, to weigh in on whether a bill should also cover AI chatbots.
The Canadian Centre for Child Protection, a national charity that aims to reduce child sexual exploitation, supports Manitoba’s move.
Lloyd Richardson, the centre’s director of technology, said the province can go at it alone but it would be stronger if federal legislation was in place.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the idea merits consideration in Canada.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has also said it would be more effective if it was a Canada-wide project.
Richardson said the centre would like to see movement on a ban as soon as possible.
“Really, we need to start somewhere … we start to change social norms with this, and then start putting these other building blocks in place.”
Some are praising Manitoba for becoming the first jurisdiction in Canada to move toward blocking social media and AI chatbots, but experts are questioning whether it will be effective.
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