Bill 138 explained in plain English
Social Media Age Restriction Plan Act, 2026
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 44th Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
Bill 138 requires Ontario's Minister of Health to develop and implement a plan to restrict social media access for people under 16, in coordination with the federal government and after consulting with education stakeholders.
Bill 138, called the Social Media Age Restriction Plan Act, 2026, is a private members' bill introduced in the Ontario legislature. It requires the Minister of Health to create a written plan about social media use for people under age 16. The plan must include: (1) a strategy to work with the federal government to ban social media for people under 16; (2) policies Ontario will use to enforce age restrictions on social media, with timelines for implementation; and (3) policies for monitoring social media companies to ensure they follow age restriction rules. Before developing the plan, the Minister must consult with the Minister of Education, the federal Minister of Health, school boards, school councils, and teachers. The Minister must present the completed plan to the Ontario Legislature within one year after the bill receives Royal Assent (becomes law). Once the plan is in place, the Minister must make sure it is carried out according to any timelines included in the plan. The bill comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- Requires the Minister of Health to develop a written plan about social media use for people under age 16
- The plan must include a strategy to work with the federal government to ban social media for people under 16
- The plan must outline policies Ontario will implement to enforce age restrictions on social media, with timelines for implementation
- The plan must include policies for monitoring social media providers to ensure compliance with age restriction policies
- Requires the Minister to consult with the Minister of Education, the federal Minister of Health, school boards, school councils, and teachers before developing the plan
- Requires the Minister to present the plan to the Ontario Legislature within one year of Royal Assent
- Requires the Minister to ensure the plan is implemented according to the timelines set out in the plan
- The Act comes into force on Royal Assent
- The Minister of Health and the Ontario government (who must develop and implement the plan)
- The federal government (who Ontario will work with on a strategy to ban social media for people under 16)
- People under age 16 (the intended subject of social media age restrictions)
- The Minister of Education, school boards, school councils, and teachers (who must be consulted in developing the plan)
- Social media providers operating in Ontario (who may face monitoring and enforcement of age restrictions)
- The Minister of Health must develop a written plan respecting social media use for people under age 16
- The plan must address a strategy to work with the federal government to ban social media for people under 16
- The plan must set out policies Ontario will implement to enforce age restrictions on social media with implementation timelines
- The plan must set out policies for monitoring social media providers for compliance with age restrictions
- The Minister must consult with the Minister of Education, the federal Minister of Health, school boards, school councils, and teachers when developing the plan
- The Minister must table (present) the plan in the Legislative Assembly within one year of Royal Assent
- The Minister must ensure the plan is implemented in accordance with the timelines set out in the plan
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent
- The Minister must table the plan in the Legislative Assembly within one year after the day this section comes into force
- The bill does not specify any costs, funding, tax changes, or financial impacts
- The bill does not specify any penalties, fines, or enforcement mechanisms for non-compliance with age restrictions or with the requirements of the Act itself
- The bill does not specify what the Ontario government's policies for enforcing age restrictions will be, only that the Minister must develop them
- The bill does not explain how age restrictions would be technically enforced on social media platforms
- The bill does not define what qualifies as 'social media' for the purposes of the plan
- The bill does not specify what 'monitoring' social media providers means or how it would be conducted
- The bill does not say whether a ban would apply to all social media or certain types of platforms
- The bill does not specify funding, resources, or staffing requirements for developing and implementing the plan
- The bill does not indicate whether federal jurisdiction or constitutional concerns regarding federal/provincial responsibilities have been addressed
- The bill does not specify penalties or consequences for social media providers who do not comply with age restrictions
- It is unclear how the Ontario plan would work with federal jurisdiction over telecommunications and the Internet
This bill creates new duties for the Minister of Health to develop and implement a social media age restriction plan, but does not change or repeal any existing Ontario laws or regulations
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced