Legault calls social media platforms 'virtual pushers' as party mulls age restrictions

Social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat are nothing less than 'virtual pushers,' according to Premier François Legault.

Social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat are nothing less than "virtual pushers," according to Premier François Legault.

"The way social media works is to make readers dependent," Legault said Saturday at the opening of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) general convention in Saint-Hyacinthe.

"It's a bit like they're virtual pushers, like drugs, like other substances."

"It's worrying," he added. "It scares me. It's creating major mental health problems for young people … I'm open to taking major steps."

Around 700 CAQ members gathered in Saint-Hyacinthe to take part in a general convention with the theme "Quebec in change."

At the heart of the debates was the CAQ youth wing's proposal to set the minimum age for accessing social media at 16.

On May 2, Legault ridiculed the idea put forward by Parti québécois (PQ) leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon of banning certain young people from accessing social networks.