Meta says app stores should ban social media under 16s in Australia
Australia will press ahead with a ban on social media for people under the age of 16, despite calls from Meta Platforms to consider shifting responsibility for monitoring usage to app store operators such as Google and Apple.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Friday that all state and territory leaders had signed the age restrictions plan, with the government excluding exceptions for major services such as Facebook, TikTok or X.
The legislation will be presented to Parliament in the week of November 18, with a 12-month period between the bill being passed and it coming into force. No information was provided about what personal information would be required to demonstrate proof of age on social media, or what penalties companies could face if they break the laws. The government also has not offered an exhaustive list of which platforms are considered social media.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said such services would be labeled ‘age-restricted’ under the new legislation. The minister said the government would assess individual websites and online services to decide whether they were covered by the legislation, but added that gaming services and messaging apps would likely be exempt.
Australia has a history of acquiring big tech companies that run social sites, including a 2021 attempt to make Meta’s Facebook and Alphabet’s Google pay for news content. More recently, the government clashed with Elon Musk’s X over its failure to remove a video of a terrorist attack in Sydney.
Meta Regional Policy Director for Australia Mia Garlick said while the company agrees that young people should have “age-appropriate experiences” on social media, it is important to consider how that can be practically achieved.
“The challenge is that the technology is not quite there yet in terms of providing a perfect solution,” Garlick told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Friday. She added that it would be better if mobile app store providers placed age restrictions on their products instead of social media companies.
“If every single app has to implement its own age-appropriate controls, the burden will really fall on young people and parents for each of the different apps a young person wants to use,” she said.
TikTok and X have not yet commented on the age restriction policy. Representatives of Apple Inc. and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Albanese rejected Meta’s suggestion, saying he believed the government had done a good job with its proposal and expected there would be opposition to the new laws.
He said the laws were unlikely to completely ban under-16s from online platforms, but would send an important signal.
“We prohibit alcohol for young people under the age of 18 upon purchase. Well, this weekend I’m sure there will be an example of someone under the age of 18 getting access to alcohol,” he told reporters in Canberra. “Doesn’t mean you say, ‘Oh well, it’s all too hard, let it rip.’”
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