BC Premier David Eby is following through on his promise to implement stricter measures to protect kids from online threats.
During an announcement today (Friday), Eby said the province is restricting the use of cell phones in schools.
He mentioned the provincial government will work with all school districts to ensure polices are in place by the 2024-25 academic year.
In addition, Eby stated the province is launching services to remove images from the internet and pursue online predators as well as introduce legislation to hold social media giants such as Facebook and Instagram to account for the harms they have caused.
The two new services are expected to take effect on Monday.
The measures come after Eby had a conversation with the father of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old boy from Prince George who took his own life in the fall after falling prey to online sextortion.
In an earlier interview with MyPGNow.com, Eby hinted changes like this were on the horizon.
“I think there is a real opportunity for us to use schools more effectively on the front line in the fight against this sort of predatory behaviour. I think we can hold these social media companies to account for what they expose our kids to as well as the relative lack of safety for our kids online.” Eby said.
“I committed to Carson’s dad that Carson’s death would not be in vain and that we would take lessons from this and support kids across the province. He was willing to work with me to make sure from a parent’s perspective we are meeting the mark.”
“What stuck with me through our conversation was the length of time Carson was in contact with this predator, which resulted in Carson taking his own life was just 12 hours and that it could happen so quickly.”
As of the end of November, the Prince George RCMP received 62 reports of online sextortion, surpassing the 56 reports received in 2022.
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