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All of CanadaUpdated April 2026

Children's Online Privacy Issues

Privacy expectations for online services marketed to children, parental consent, behavioural advertising, and school technology.

TL;DR

Online services marketed to children must get meaningful parental consent for under-13 users (under-14 in Quebec) and must limit collection to what is necessary. Behavioural advertising and profiling of children is increasingly restricted. School tech vendors must also meet provincial public-sector privacy standards.

Marketing and data collection from children

Organizations targeting children must:

  • Obtain meaningful parental consent before collecting personal information from under-13 users.
  • Provide age-appropriate notices in language children can understand.
  • Minimize data collection and retention.
  • Disable profiling and behavioural advertising by default for users under 18.

Schools and ed-tech

Schools must vet ed-tech vendors to ensure equivalent privacy protection under the applicable provincial public-sector law.

Cross-border data transfers require additional assessment under Quebec's Law 25.

Children's images online

Posting images of identifiable children online generally requires parental consent. Quebec's de-indexing rights are particularly strong for children.

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