Miller says government moving quickly but no timeline for new digital regulator

OTTAWA — Culture Minister Marc Miller says while he shares concerns about how long the government’s new digital regulator will take to set up, he’s unable to say exactly when that will happen.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Miller said the government is moving as quickly as possible on digital safety bill C-34, which includes a ban on social media for kids.

Miller spoke at McGill University’s Democracy, Rebuilt conference in Montreal on Thursday. The conference also heard from Alex Munter, head of the Canadian Medical Association, who said he was concerned about the timeline.

When the bill was introduced, government officials said it would take 18 months to set up the regulator.

“Eighteen months in Ottawa is like three years,” Munter said. “We don’t have that kind of time … parents want these toxic products out of their children’s hands now.”

Miller said in the interview he is “equally, if not more concerned, than Alex.”

He said he wants to “get things in place as quickly as possible” but isn’t able to offer a specific timeline.

Miller said the government wants to move quickly to implement some parts of digital safety bill.

Australia’s eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant told the conference a regulator will take time to establish.

Australia was the first country to introduce a social media ban for kids in December 2025. Grant said the regulator is now looking into non-compliance or “malicious compliance” by tech platforms.

She said before the law came into force, one platform told underage users the ban was imminent and asked if they were sure they weren’t 16 — before letting about 130,000 users through. Another gave users more than two dozen chances, daily, to pass third-party age estimation software tests.

Miller says he’s not “naive” about the possibility of industry pushback but he expects the Canadian regulator to have a healthy back and forth with industry.

“It has to be dynamic, fluid, and can have relationships that are built,” he said.

Miller added the government has seen “what’s happened in other countries. Malicious compliance, I believe, is real.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026.

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press