The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has ruled that a social media platform may be held liable in tort for harm suffered by a minor when the platform fails to remove child sexual exploitation material within a reasonable time following notification, awarding damages to a teenage claimant whose intimate images were distributed without consent on a messaging service and remained accessible for eleven days after her representative filed a takedown request. Justice Hendricks found that the platform's moderation queue and appeals process constituted an unreasonable delay given the severity and illegality of the content, that the continued availability of the material caused quantifiable psychological harm and reputational damage, and that the decision establishes a duty of care owed by operators of user-to-user services to expedite removal of CSAM and non-consensual intimate images involving minors, with the standard of reasonableness to be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
A world-leading AI online-safety platform intercepts distribution before the takedown clock starts. Guardii's CSAM and anti-sextortion filters detect and block the sharing of child sexual abuse material and non-consensual intimate images as the message is sent, preventing the material from reaching additional recipients and eliminating the evidentiary and psychological harm that accrues during a platform's moderation delay. For schools, sports organisations and families using Guardii across Instagram, Snapchat, Discord and Roblox, the system flags the incident to a safeguarding professional or parent in real time and generates the record required for referral to police or a civil claim, meeting the duty the Ontario court has now articulated through prevention rather than reactive removal.
