Meta Urges Ottawa to Back App-Store–Level Age Verification in New Canadian Online Safety Laws

Meta is urging the federal Liberal government to adopt a major shift in how Canada manages online age verification, placing the responsibility on app stores rather than individual platforms. The company has been pitching this idea to federal and provincial officials as Ottawa prepares new online safety legislation.

The director of public policy at Meta Canada, Rachel Curran, stated that the company believes that the best, privacy-protective model is age verification at the app store level. In accordance with the proposal of Meta, Apple App Store and Google Play would provide developers with a simple message that indicates whether a user is under 18. Curran claimed it would assist platforms in providing age-based experiences and enhance teen security, since parents already use birthdates to set up devices as well as manage permissions.

Curran noted that more than 20 U.S. states have considered similar models, saying Meta wants Canada to follow suit. However, Google pushed back sharply, accusing Meta of trying to shift the responsibility rather than improve its own practices. Google policy lead Kareem Ghanem said the idea has been rejected by 16 U.S. states and the European Union, and warned it would require app stores to share age signals with apps that do not need sensitive data, such as basic utility apps.

Meta maintains it is already rolling out stronger protections, including parental controls and “PG-13” content standards for teen accounts, as well as AI systems that estimate a user’s age based on behaviour such as content interactions and friend networks. Still, Curran argues that app-store verification is the “better way.”

Government reaction has been “positive,” she said, though provinces have raised jurisdictional issues. Ottawa is already moving forward with a variety of bills focused on online harms, privacy, AI safety, and the protection of young people. However, recently, child safety activists have declared the dangers of online behaviour a national crisis and a national emergency. Advocates demand immediate government intervention, which has further intensified the debate around age verification, AI chatbots, and adolescent safety.