Regulatory considerations and potential impacts of Canadian policies on Threads usage

Canadian regulatory considerations for Threads, a social media platform, primarily revolve around the Online Harms Act and related policies aimed at combating harmful online content, protecting youth, and ensuring accessibility.

Key regulatory aspects include:

• Online Harms Act Compliance: Threads, as a social media service operator, would be required to implement mechanisms allowing users to block others, report harmful content, and receive notifications about actions taken. It must also publish clear user guidelines on handling harmful content and submit a "digital safety plan" detailing compliance measures. The Act establishes the Digital Safety Commission of Canada to enforce these rules and handle complaints about harmful content such as sexual victimization or non-consensual intimate content.

• Content Moderation and Proactive Monitoring: Canadian proposals require platforms to take "all reasonable measures," including automated systems, to identify and make harmful content inaccessible within 24 hours of being flagged. However, this proactive monitoring obligation has raised concerns about privacy, potential pre-publication censorship, and human rights implications, with stakeholders calling for narrower scopes or removal of such provisions.

• Youth Protection: Unlike some countries (e.g., Australia), Canada does not explicitly mandate parental consent for minors to create social media accounts, although privacy guidelines effectively require it for children under 13. There is growing attention on protecting youth from social media harms, but Canadian policies currently lag behind global trends that impose stricter age-related restrictions and platform responsibilities to prevent underage access.

• Accessibility Requirements: Threads would also need to consider accessibility laws such as the Accessible Canada Act (ACA) and provincial laws like Ontario’s AODA, which require social media content to meet accessibility standards (e.g., alt-text for images, captions for videos, readable text contrast). Compliance enhances inclusivity and reduces legal risks.

Potential impacts on Threads usage in Canada include:

• Increased operational costs and technical requirements to comply with content moderation, reporting, and accessibility standards.

• Possible limitations on certain types of content due to stringent harmful content definitions and rapid takedown obligations.

• Challenges balancing proactive content monitoring with privacy rights and freedom of expression concerns.

• Restrictions or additional verification processes for youth account creation, potentially affecting user growth among minors.

• Enhanced transparency and accountability through mandated digital safety plans and regulatory oversight.

Overall, Canadian policies aim to create a safer, more inclusive social media environment but impose significant compliance demands on platforms like Threads, influencing how they operate and engage users within Canada.