iN DISCUSSION: Ban on social media for kids? I have a better idea

This is where cold hard facts give way to the hottest of takes, mostly mine I suppose. I’m the editor, Marshall Jones.

Want to include yours? Listen, this isn’t the comment section, this isn’t social media. Discussion and debate requires context and a wee bit of bravery — we need your name and where you’re writing from. Include it in your account or email me anytime.

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Time to make social media giants accountable

Canada is among a growing number of countries considering or already enacting laws banning social media for kids under 16.

There’s plenty of evidence of harms — beyond what is simply visible at all times. They’re generally considered more susceptible to influencers and algorithms and other exploitations.

If you ask me, kids are the canaries in the coal mine. There was a time I could make a case for social media as a public good, back when it actually connected old friends, grandparents with grandchildren or people with similar hobbies or ideas to explore.

Now it’s hard to find any good among the cesspool of eye-worm robots trying to infest brains with bad ideas, constant off-ramps to extreme parts of the internet and bad political actors with nefarious purpose. 

And snuff videos. Can’t forget those.

But bans? Likely unenforceable bans for a small segment of the population that’s probably half as vulnerable as seniors?

I’ve got a far simpler solution — remove the unfair protections the social media giants prosper from. They finagled the laws in the early days so these companies could flourish by ensuring they didn’t have any obligations as ‘publishers’ of information.

Publishers like us are liable for things like defamation, intellectual property theft, fraud, hate crimes, etc. Social media companies were supposed to be more like the telephone line, a conduit for others to use. You can’t sue the telephone company because two people used it to slander you, right?

But once they started connecting my phone to some neo-nazi or clueless influencer without asking me, then sold ad space around it, well I reckon they’ve reclaimed liabilities as a publisher.

YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, all of them decide what we see. 

Make them liable, make them accountable for what’s published and we won’t have a problem — and neither will our kids.

Got a thought? Email me at mjones@infonews.ca.

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

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Social disorder isn’t a policing issue but it’s not entirely a health issue either

What a pickle the RCMP is in.

As the successful contractor for policing services in nearly all BC interior cities, it also carries the weight of a massive bureaucracy, serving multiple masters and disciplines across vastly different geographies and serving… a fickle public.

It doesn’t react quickly.

It seemed for a time, albeit a different time, they had things together out there. Perhaps not all of it was on the books, if you know what I mean, but it seemed more peaceful. 

People forget, but Kelowna in 2006 looked a lot like Kelowna in 2026. Meth hit the streets in a bad way. I watched as a particularly hands on RCMP approach helped get that under control. 

Since then, we’ve all spent our time nitpicking, knocking all the hard edges off the Stetsons. Every borderline police violence case is interrogated and investigated and judged like it’s George Floyd. They’re rooting out an old culture, don’t ya know. They’re understanding the root causes of crime, drug use, etc. 

The last time I recall them breaking up a homeless camp in Kelowna without cookies and warmers was 2019.

Now that we have them singing songs and holding hands, things are, objectively, getting out of control, despite what the stats show or don’t show. In Kelowna, Penticton, Kamloops, Vernon and [insert your neighbourhood here], it’s becoming unbearable.

“Social disorder is not a policing issue alone,” has been the line, most recently repeated by Kelowna RCMP Supt. Chris Goebel.

Well, it’s not always just a health issue, either.

No one wants to say it so allow me to interpret: We want that giant RCMP ship to change course again, come back around. Don’t throw your hands up, put your dukes up. Intervene. Intimidate. Crack some skulls.

That’s what they’re really saying in Rutland, isn’t it? And in downtown Kelowna? And all over Kelowna, Kamloops, Penticton Vernon. Do it so we don’t have to.

Can we be honest about this at least?

We are learning hard lessons in this province and this country that governing by symbolism and naive hopefulness is not benign. We can’t escape the consequences but perhaps we can face them.

How’s that for a hot take? Email me, let’s argue about it. 

Mj

Marshall Jones

Managing Editor

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iN RESPONSE

Kamloops mayor’s complaint backfires, sheds light on his repeated bullying

Why can’t the city just fire this constant bickering so-called mayor and pay him out? It would probably cost taxpayers less in the long run. This has gone on long enough!! Council would be much better off without that boil on the butt.

— Herb Irwin via iNFOnews.ca

iN RESPONSE to Monday’s newsletter opinion editorial on the lack of RCMP enforcement to deal with street crime and disorder

I won’t disagree because I totally agree with your assessment.
I used to work in downtown Kelowna when it was perfectly safe to get where i needed to go by taking shortcuts down alleys etc. I won’t even go downtown now even to walk on the main streets unless someone else is with me.

— Catherine V. Comben via email

Being a wife to a retired RCMP officer I couldn’t agree with you more. The general public have absolutely no idea what these officers go through trying to do right with their hands tied. Cell phones have made it practically impossible for them to do their job in an efficient manner. The hiring “quota” instead of best person for the job began the decent and appointing superior officers who have never worked the street but were educated and had all the correct initials behind their name also help the downhill slide.

— Name withheld for publication by request

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Tara Armstrong Recall Countdown

Tara Armstrong is currently the MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream. She rode the coattails of the BC Conservative Party, got elected, then rejected and left the party to serve as an Independent within weeks because the Conservatives were too left wing. Now she gets to spout moronic, hateful rhetoric and claim that her riding supports her.

Elections BC says you can recall an MLA if 40% of eligible voters in the riding sign a recall petition — but not for the first 18 months after an election. Some people started an online petition calling for a byelection once she made a shift to independent, then got herself a raise by forming her own party, but it won’t mean anything until the countdown clock hits zero.

So let the countdown begin!

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