Australia launches ‘Landmark’ bill to ban social media for children under 16
Australia’s center-left government introduced a bill in parliament on Thursday that aims to ban social media for children under 16 and has proposed fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million, or roughly Rs. 270 crore) for social media platforms for systemic violations.
Australia plans to trial an age verification system that could include biometrics or government identification to enforce an age limit on social media, one of the toughest controls yet imposed by any country.
The proposals are the highest age limit set by any country, and there would be no exemption for parental consent and no exception for pre-existing accounts.
“This is a landmark reform. We know some children will find solutions, but we are sending a message to social media companies to clean up their act,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.
The opposition Liberal Party plans to support the bill, although independents and the Green Party have demanded more details about the proposed law, which would affect Meta Platforms’ Instagram and Facebook, Bytedance’s TikTok and Elon Musk’s X and Snapchat.
But Albanese said children will have access to messaging, online gaming and health and education-related services, such as youth mental health support platform Headspace, and Alphabet’s Google Classroom and YouTube.
The Albanian-led Labor government has argued that excessive use of social media poses risks to children’s physical and mental health, particularly risks to girls due to harmful body image depictions and misogynistic content aimed at boys.
A number of countries have already pledged to restrict children’s use of social media through legislation, but Australia’s policy is one of the strictest.
France last year proposed a ban on social media for under-15s, but users could bypass the ban with parental consent. The United States has for decades required technology companies to obtain parental consent to access the data of children under the age of 13.
“For too many young Australians, social media can be harmful. Nearly two-thirds of 14 to 17-year-old Australians have viewed extremely harmful content online, including substance abuse, suicide or self-harm,” Communications Minister Michelle Rowland told Parliament. on Thursday.
The law would force social media platforms, not parents or youth, to take reasonable steps to ensure age verification protections are in place.
The proposed law will include robust privacy provisions, including requiring platforms to destroy any information collected to protect users’ personal data, Rowland said.
“Social media has a social responsibility… that’s why we’re making big changes to hold platforms accountable for user safety,” Rowland said.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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