Facebook lashes out at Anthony Albanese over his proposed social media ban in Australia
Facebook’s head of international affairs has called a proposed social media ban on Australian teenagers a “whack-a-mole nightmare” for parents who don’t stop their children from using the app.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has proposed setting a minimum age for using social media, in a bid to limit the use of platforms such as Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram by teenagers, with a view to their safety.
The proposed ban could target children as young as 14.
However, Facebook’s head of international affairs Nick Clegg accused the prime minister of lacking structure or detail in the plan.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, would still comply with all the laws passed, but Clegg said the ban would be pointless unless it was imposed at “choke points,” such as in the Play or App stores or on the operating systems of companies like Google and Apple.
Speaking at the Chatham House think tank in London, Mr Clegg said teenagers were using a “multitude of apps” and content was simply being moved from one app to another.
“If you ask every company to play whack-a-mole with this sort of thing, it becomes a nightmare for parents … because they have to do it on every single app,” the former leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats said.
‘If you really want to have control from a parental perspective, or from a government perspective, over who uses social apps and who doesn’t, the only way to do that in practice is to … actually download the apps from the app store.
Anthony Albanese’s move to ban children from using social media has prompted a response from US giant Facebook
Nick Clegg, Facebook’s head of international affairs, said the plan would be a nightmare for parents who would have to impose a ban on every app their child uses.
‘If you take a big step like this in Australia and elsewhere and say, we’re going to make a decision now, then you have to make it enforceable.’
“It should include all apps that young people use, not just a few.”
Mr Albanese has previously said he wants a “national” approach to the problem, to ensure different states do not introduce their own versions of social media bans.
“One of the things we want to do with the age verification trial is look at real experiences. We’ve put a lot of work into that and we’re now in the final stages of running this trial,” he told NOVA FM earlier this week.
The Prime Minister has suggested using facial recognition technology to prevent children from accessing certain apps and pornography.
