Australia has passed a ban on social media for children under 16

Australia on Thursday approved a social media ban for children under 16, after an emotional debate that has gripped the nation and set a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with some of the strictest regulations targeting Big Tech.

The law forces tech giants, from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta to TikTok, to prevent minors from logging in or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million or about Rs. 270 crore). A trial of methods to enforce the ban will begin in January and the ban will come into effect in a year.

The social media age law sets Australia up as a test case for a growing number of governments that have introduced or plan to introduce age restrictions on social media amid concerns about the impact on young people’s mental health.

Countries including France and some US states have passed laws to restrict access for minors without parental consent, but Australia’s ban is absolute. A complete ban on young people under the age of 14 in Florida is being challenged in court on freedom of speech grounds.

The law’s passage after a marathon on the last day of Australia’s parliamentary year marks a political victory for center-left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who heads to the 2025 election amid worsening polling. The ban faced opposition from privacy advocates and some children’s rights groups, but according to the latest polls, 77 percent of the population wanted it.

Against the backdrop of a parliamentary inquiry through 2024 that heard testimony from parents of children who had self-harmed as a result of bullying on social media, the domestic media supported the ban led by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, the country’s largest newspaper publisher country, with a campaign called “Let them be children”.

However, the ban could strain Australia’s relationship with key ally the United States, where X owner Elon Musk, a central figure in newly elected President Donald Trump’s administration, said in a post this month that it was a ” seemed like a backdoor way to control entry into the US.” Internet by all Australians”.

It also builds on an existing atmosphere of antagonism between Australia and especially US-based tech giants. Australia was the first country to make social media platforms pay media outlets for sharing their content and now plans to threaten them with fines for failing to stamp out scams.

A spokesperson for Meta said the Facebook owner respected Australian law but was “concerned” about the process, which “rushed legislation through without properly considering the evidence, which the industry is already doing to ensure age-appropriate experiences, and the voices of young people.”

“The task now revolves around ensuring productive consultation on all rules relating to the Bill to ensure a technically feasible outcome that does not impose a heavy burden on parents and teenagers and a commitment that the rules will be applied consistently to all social apps used by law. teenagers,” the spokesperson said.

Snapchat parent Snap will comply with laws and regulations in Australia, but has raised serious concerns about the legislation, a Snap spokesperson said in an email.

“While there are many unanswered questions about how this law will be implemented in practice, we will work closely with the Government and the eSafety Commissioner over the twelve-month implementation period to help develop an approach that respects privacy, security and usability balance,” said the spokesperson. said spokesperson.

Representatives for TikTok and X, which the government says would be affected by the ban, were not immediately available for comment.

The companies – including Alphabet’s Google, whose subsidiary YouTube is exempt because it is widely used in schools – had argued that the legislation should be delayed until after the age verification trial.

“It’s a cart before horse,” said Sunita Bose, director of Digital Industry Group, which includes most social media companies.

“We have the bill, but we have no advice from the Australian government on the appropriate methods that a whole range of services covered by this law should use,” Bose added, speaking to Reuters.

Nation divided

Some youth advocacy groups and academics had warned that the ban could cut off the most vulnerable youth, including LGBTQIA and migrant teens, from support networks. The Australian Human Rights Commission said the law could breach young people’s human rights by hindering their ability to participate in society.

Privacy advocates, meanwhile, warned that the law could lead to increased collection of personal data, paving the way for digital identification-based state surveillance. A last-minute change to the bill specified that platforms must provide an alternative to allowing users to upload identification documents.

“These are boomers trying to tell young people how the internet should work to make themselves feel better,” Sarah Hanson-Young, a senator for the left-wing Greens, said in a late Senate meeting just before the bill passed by a 34-vote vote. . 19.

But parent groups urged intervention, seizing on comments from US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who said in 2023 that social media was exacerbating the mental health crisis in young people to the point where it should carry a health warning.

“Putting an age limit and giving control back to the parents, I think this is a starting point,” said Australian anti-bullying lawyer Ali Halkic, whose 17-year-old son Allem committed suicide in 2009 after bullying on social media.

Enie Lam, a Sydney student who recently turned 16, said social media has contributed to body image issues and cyberbullying, but a total ban could drive young people to less visible and more dangerous parts of the internet.

“It will just create a generation of young people who will be more technologically savvy in getting around these walls,” she told Reuters. “It won’t achieve the desired effects.”

“We all know that social media is not good for us, but the social media ban generally sees a lot of young people strongly against it.”

© Thomson Reuters 2024

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)