B.C. announces it will work with social media platforms on protections, putting legislation on hold

The British Columbia government has agreed to shelve proposed legislation that would have allowed it to sue social media companies for harms their algorithms cause people, announcing that Meta, X, and other major platforms have agreed to work with the province to put protections in place.The province introduced the Public Health Accountability and Cost Recovery Act in March, promising it would allow government to recover costs associated with the promotion, marketing and distribution of products that are harmful to adults and children in the province. It was tabled just weeks after Ottawa tabled Bill C-63 to create a new Online Harms Act—a baseline standard for online platforms to keep Canadians safe—to hold online platforms accountable for the content they host.