Online harms now top threat to Canadian children, new report says

OTTAWA – Online harms now constitute the top threat facing children in Canada, ahead of bullying, poverty and child abuse, Children First Canada said Tuesday in a new report.

It is the first time online harms have been in the top 10 list of threats, the report said.

“We’ve seen how now it’s permeating the lives of every kid in Canada, from birth all the way through adolescence. This is no longer a conversation just about teens on social media,” said Sara Austin, CEO of Children First Canada.

“In the past year alone, we’ve seen particularly the rise of AI-amplified harms,” she added.

The report says kids are coming into contact with AI toys and algorithmic-driven content before they even learn to read. It cites multiple risks related to the online environment, including cyberbullying, child luring, sexual extortion, AI-facilitated abuse and mental health impacts.

Last year’s shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C. — which has led to dozens of lawsuits focused on the shooter’s use of ChatGPT — was a defining moment for the debate around online safety in Canada, the report says.

It notes that over the past decade, police-reported incidents of online child sexual abuse have increased by more than 300 per cent, while the Canadian Centre for Child Protection processes more than 100,000 reports of online child sexual abuse and exploitation each month.

“Meanwhile, the emergence of violent online networks such as 764 has prompted law enforcement agencies to warn that Canadian children are being actively targeted through gaming platforms, social media, and messaging apps,” the report says.

The federal government added 764 to its list of terror entities in December 2025. It described the group as a “decentralized transnational network of online nihilistic violent extremists.”

It said members of the group use social media and gaming platforms “to lure, groom, and extort youth to commit violent and sexual acts, including self-harm.”

The report argues Canada has regulations and safety standards in place for other children’s products, including food, medicine, pyjamas and toys — and that tech companies should not enjoy an exception.

Children First Canada is calling on the federal government to strengthen and pass the digital safety bill it introduced earlier this year. Bill C-34 would force social media platforms to at least temporarily block access for kids under 16 and regulate the companies behind social media platforms and AI chatbots by imposing on them a duty to act responsibly, among other measures.

“We’re very glad to see that it goes beyond social media to include AI chatbots, but we know that kids don’t just exist in these two platforms,” Austin said.

The group also would like to see the bill address gaming and live streaming platforms, as well as messaging apps.

Austin said the onus needs to be on tech companies to design safer products in the first place.

The group received financial support and subject matter expertise from the non-profit PolicyWise for Children & Families, the Hospital for Sick Children, and the Canadian Medical Association.

The report argues that online harms aren’t a stand-alone issue.

“They are amplifying many of the other threats facing children, contributing to declining physical activity and play, bullying, violence and child abuse, racism and discrimination through online hate, and even climate change through the growing environmental impacts of digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence,” it says.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2026.