Canadians Broadly Support Social Media Ban for Kids

New Léger polling finds overwhelming concern about social media’s impact on children — and strong support for restricting access to minors.

New federal polling from Léger measured an unusual degree of consensus — both regional and demographic — in favour of banning social media access for users under the age of 16.

Fielded in early May, the new Léger survey finds that an overwhelming majority of Canadians are concerned about the reported harms of social media use on children and teenagers. Above all, this sense of concern is remarkably broad and consistent across regions and demographic groups.

To the question: “Are you concerned or not about the potential negative impact of the following online tools on children and teenagers?”, 83% of respondents answered either very concerned (49%) or somewhat concerned (35%). Only 13% said they were either not very concerned or not concerned at all.

The regional breakdown shows just how widespread this issue has become. From coast to coast, Léger measures barely any variation beyond the poll’s estimated margin of error: concern is highest in Atlantic Canada (90%) and lowest in Quebec (80%), with every other region falling in between. Rarely do we observe this level of agreement across regions in Canadian polling.