Canada is failing the Jewish community and Jews are being targeted, Prime Minister Carney says

TORONTO (AP) — Canada is failing Jewish Canadians and the community is being brutally targeted by hate, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday.

Carney said across Canada, antisemitism has surged to levels not seen in the post-World War II era. He noted that last year over two-thirds of all religion-motivated hate crimes were directed at Jewish Canadians. Jews make up only 1% of the population.

“The horror and shame are global. Our actions must be local. They start with clearly admitting that Canada’s civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians,” Carney said at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto.

Carney said antisemites in Canada have fired bullets at Jewish schools and thrown firebombs at synagogues and attacked community centers. He said they have targeted Jewish-owned businesses and drove Jewish students from common spaces on university campuses.

Carney said antisemitism plagues Europe, Australia and the United States. But he said the crisis of antisemitism in Canada is "specific, severe and demands a targeted response.”

There has been a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents globally since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, 2023.

“Something important happened: Canada finally said the quiet part out loud," Harley Finkelstein, a prominent Jewish Canadian and president of the e-commerce company Shopify, posted on social media.

Noah Shack, the CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said before the speech that the Canadian government must do more to strengthen community security and combat hate.

Carney said his government has introduced legislation over the last year to combat antisemitism and other forms of hatred. He said $75 million (US $54 million) in funding will provide faith-based institutions with things like security infrastructure and additional security personnel.

“It pains me that we had to commit $75 million to this, any dollar to this,” Carney said.

The prime minister also said a new Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion will examine the nature, scale and drivers of antisemitism. It will measure its impacts and investments in education, prevention and community safety will follow, his office said.

“I want to be clear about what these potential measures are, and what they are not. They are not curtailments of freedom of expression. They are not constraints on legitimate criticism of any government on any subject anywhere,” Carney said.

“They are the basic standards we owe one another, in our shared public institutions, to ensure that no Canadian community is driven from those institutions by hatred.”

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers remarks at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto on Monday, June 1 2026. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is flanked by members of his security detail as he delivers remarks at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto on Monday, June 1, 2026. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks to community leaders and community members at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto on Monday, June 1 2026. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks to community leaders event at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto on Monday, June 1 2026. (Chris Young/The Canadian Press via AP)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia on Monday began enforcing rules barring millions of children younger than 16 from having social media accounts, joining a growing global effort to tighten safety protections. Not all families approved, and critics raised concerns about data protection and potential surveillance.

Social media platforms with at least 8 million users in Malaysia, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, must implement age-verification systems and block users under 16 from creating accounts.

Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Commission said age verification for existing users will be rolled out over the next six months. Users identified as under 16 will have a month to download or transfer data, including photos and videos, before restrictions or other actions are applied.

Companies that fail to comply could face penalties of up to 10 million ringgit ($2.5 million). Parents whose children manage to bypass the law will not be penalized.

The government said the measures are aimed at protecting children from harmful content, cyberbullying and platform features designed to encourage excessive use.

Countries including Australia,Brazil and Indonesia have introduced or announced age-based restrictions or requirements for children’s access to social media. Others including Britain, France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand and South Korea are studying or developing similar approaches.

Malaysia's regulator said the rules are not intended to prevent children from accessing digital technology. Platforms are required to improve user safety, discourage excessive use and take action against underage accounts and harmful content.

Technology companies have yet to describe how they will comply.

Clara Koh, Meta’s director of public policy for Southeast Asia, has cautioned that Malaysia's under-16 ban could backfire by driving teenagers away from protected apps and into unregulated corners of the internet.

Governments around the world face pressure to address concerns about social media’s impact on children’s mental health and online safety. In March, a U.S. jury ordered Meta and YouTube to pay millions of dollars in damages in a case alleging that platform design features contributed to harm suffered by a young user.

In Kuala Lumpur, Saravanan Ganasan and Jayaradha Veerasamy, whose children are 12 and 15, said they approve of the changes. They already had banned their kids from using social media, believing minors lack the psychological capacity to cope with it.

Devices are kept out of bedrooms, screen time is limited to common areas and their son is not allowed to lock his phone with a password.

“Exposure is what we fear,” Saravanan said. “The wrong kind of exposure will do damage to the mind.”

Aadhavan Saravanan, 15, said he believes he would be addicted to social media if allowed full freedom. “Social media is, like, a luxury and it’s not a necessity,” he said.

The couple said the restrictions have forced their children to develop offline life skills. Aadhavan reads books in a backyard mango tree and repairs broken household appliances, while their daughter cooks and does crafts.

“A lot of parents are very scared that children get bored,” Jayaradha said. “But boredom is actually very good because they start thinking out of the box.”

But Shaun Hew, in the Kuala Lumpur suburb of Cheras, said the new restrictions go too far.

Hew believes social media allow his kids to spend time productively, as long as there is proper adult oversight. His 11-year-old son uses platforms to learn cooking and his daughter, 14, uses YouTube for exam preparation.

He worries a sudden cutoff could cause teenagers to rebel and find unregulated ways to bypass internet blocks.

Some critics said Malaysia’s decision could increase the risks of data privacy breaches and expand state surveillance.

“It is very much following the trend, but in a way that is raising alarms due to requiring a government ID for age verification,” said Benjamin Loh, social science lecturer at Monash University in Malaysia. He said social media companies could end up storing sensitive personal data without sufficient safeguards.

Loh said the decision also could unintentionally affect stateless individuals, undocumented residents and members of marginalized communities including LGBTQ+ people who rely on anonymity online for safety.

Without penalties on parents, families can easily bypass the law by creating accounts for their children, he added.

“This is a major gap that, unless regulators are willing to fix, will result in the law having little effect in stopping children from using social media,” he said.

Hew Chee Weng, 11, uses a smartphone in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Syawalludin Zain)

Siblings Saaradha Saravanan, 12, left, and Aadhavan Saravanan, 15, sit in a park in Petaling Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Eileen Ng)

Jayaradha Veerasamy, right, and Saravanan Ganasan, second left, stand with their 12 years-old daughter Saaradha Saravanan, left, and their 15 year-old son Aadhavan Saravanan at a park in Petaling Jaya, near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Monday, June 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Eileen Ng)

FILE - A view of the TikTok app logo, in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)