Online harms place substantial cost on Canada’s health and justice systems, report says

Online harms place substantial cost on Canada’s health and justice systems, report says MARIE WOOLF OTTAWA PUBLISHED 28 MINUTES AGO Open this photo in gallery: More than 70 per cent of youth aged 15 to 24 had encountered online hate content in the prior year, according to Statistics Canada. MANUEL AUSLOOS/REUTERS COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER The financial cost of online harm to Canadian children and young people could be as high as $4.8-billion per year, according to a new analysis. The report, published Monday, estimated that the cost of “platform-facilitated harms,” including cyberbullying, hate speech and social media addiction, experienced by young Canadians under the age of 25 will reach between $2-billion and $4.8-billion this year. Of this, an estimated $1.7-billion to $3-billion will be borne by federal, provincial and municipal governments, including through health care costs, policing, courts and prisons, and lost tax revenue owing to reduced productivity. The analysis, compiled by a policy consultancy run by Tyler Meredith, a senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy and a past economic adviser to former prime minister Justin Trudeau, estimated the cost of emergency departments treating young people for self-harm, attempted suicide and eating disorders, and of police services investigating cyberbullying and online child exploitation. “The costs of addictive design, algorithmic amplification of damaging content, and inadequate age controls are not borne by the platforms that generate them but by society as a whole,” the report said. Opinion: When it comes to kids and social media, Canadians have had enough It measured the costs of a number of harms, including cyberbullying and online hate speech, and problematic online gambling. Statistics Canada’s 2022 Canadian Internet Use Survey found that 71 per cent of youth aged 15 to 24 had encountered online hate content in the prior year – above the national average of 49 per cent across all age groups. Mr. Meredith estimated the cost of the justice system handling online hate crimes affecting Canadian youth ranges from $500,000 to $2.3-million per year. He also examined the cost implications of cyberbullying which, according to Statistics Canada’s 2023 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth, affects almost a quarter of those aged 12 to 17. The cost of emergency department trips, hospital admissions and subsequent visits to doctors, as well as pharmaceutical…