Youth social media ban likely to begin in schools, provincial education minister says By: Carol Sanders Posted: 6:21 PM CDT Monday, Apr. 27, 2026

The first phase of a provincial social media ban for youth will likely start with Manitoba schools, which already restrict cellphone use, Education Minister Tracy Schmidt said Monday.

“I think a full ban in schools would be a great place to start in the same way that we ban cellphones for schools,” Schmidt said when asked about it at an unrelated event.

Premier Wab Kinew announced Saturday that the province will ban children from using social media accounts and artificial intelligence chatbots but hasn’t released any details.

“These are decisions that we’re going to be making in the coming days and weeks in consultation with community, with parents, with school divisions and with management,” Schmidt said. “There’s still some conversations we’re going to have… to understand exactly where that’s going to land.”

She said the government gets plenty of feedback about the cellphone ban, which took effect in 2024.

“We hear from teachers, principals, school administrators and parents every single day about of how important that… is to help students and their learning. I think this is a reasonable next step on that,” Schmidt said.

“I think this is a reasonable next step.”

A researcher who’s surveyed hundreds of youth across Canada said Kinew’s plan deserves praise but doesn’t solve the problem of online harm from sexual exploitation and exposure to violence and gore.

“A social media ban is easy for people to understand; it’s a clear policy,” said Christopher Dietzel at Montreal’s Concordia University.

In practice, though, research and reporting show that age verification tools to screen users don’t work, he said Monday.

“They’re inconsistent, they’re incorrectly applied, there’s easy ways around them and the harms that are happening on these platforms still exist,” he said.

The affiliate assistant professor applauded Kinew’s aim to make Manitoba the first province to regulate social media.

“I would love to see other premiers follow his lead. I would also encourage him and others to consider solutions that actually address the root problem,” said Dietzel.

“The ban does nothing to educate youth, prepare parents, improve schooling or education. It does nothing to provide more support for those who are harmed. It doesn’t change the platforms or the technology itself. It doesn’t create better reporting mechanisms or features that enhance user safety.”

Dietzel’s research includes a survey of 1,000 youths aged 13-18 across Canada that found that more than one-quarter (28 per cent) reported experiencing at least one form of “technology-facilitated sexual violence.”

A similar study of youth exposure to authentic gore and violence online found that the overwhelming majority said it had a negative impact on them. What’s also troubling is that some of the youth reported having no emotional reaction to images that ranged from acts of self-harm to people being killed in war to the gory aftermath of fatal accidents, he said.

“The ban does nothing to educate youth, prepare parents, improve schooling or education.”

“I think that just demonstrates the pervasiveness of this problem and how normalized it’s become in these experiences,” he said, adding platforms should have built-in safety features.

“With every other product that we use, whether it’s a car or a blender, products go through intense testing and they’re expected to meet a standard of safety for their users. That is not being done with social media… that really needs to be addressed through the platforms themselves rather than just banning X-many platforms.”

University of Manitoba law professor Brandon Trask said the province could run into trouble enforcing a social media ban imposed on companies that control the platforms that are outside of Manitoba.

“To really make it very effective and robust, I think it would be best to have either a federal government-led approach or, at least, a sort of a harmonized approach across the provinces, which could be tough to do. But that doesn’t mean that the province shouldn’t go ahead with what they’re proposing on their own.”

“To be truly effective, a social media ban should be a national initiative.”

Progressive Conservative families critic Jodie Byram said she’s looking forward to seeing details of the NDP government’s plan.

“Social media and AI are rapidly changing the fabric of our societies, our families and the mental health and well-being of our youth,” Byram (Agassiz) said in a prepared statement. “To be truly effective, a social media ban should be a national initiative.”

Children’s advocates planned a rally and press conference in Ottawa Monday to call for federal online harms legislation that would require large social media platforms to take action against content and activities deemed harmful.

The federal government has said it is consulting on aspects of such legislation.

“In the absence of federal legislation and regulation, it’s important for provinces to take a stand to say it requires immediate attention,” said Dietzel.

— With files from Gabrielle Piche

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca