Get your ticket to GaijinPot Expo 2024
Australia will move to pass new laws banning children under 16 from social media, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday, vowing to crack down on tech giants failing to protect vulnerable users.
Platforms such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram would be held responsible for enforcing the age ban, Albanese said, and face potentially hefty fines for failing to do so.
The Australian government first mooted a social media age limit earlier this year, and the idea enjoys broad bipartisan support among lawmakers.
"This one is for the moms and dads. Social media is doing real harm to kids and I'm calling time on it," Albanese said.
The new laws would be presented to state and territory leaders this week, before being introduced to parliament in late November.
Tech platforms would then be given a one-year grace period to figure out how they would implement the ban.
Albanese said unchecked social media algorithms were serving up disturbing content to highly impressionable children and teenagers.
"I get things popping up on my system that I don't want to see. Let alone a vulnerable 14-year-old," he said. "Young women see images of particular body shapes that have a real impact."
Albanese said he had settled on 16 as an appropriate age after a series of age verification trials conducted by the government.
Analysts have previously expressed doubt that it would be technically possible to enforce such a strict age ban.
"We already know that present age verification methods are unreliable, too easy to circumvent, or risk user privacy," University of Melbourne researcher Toby Murray said earlier this year.
A series of exemptions would be decided for platforms such as YouTube, which teenagers may need to use for school work or other reasons.
Australia has been at the vanguard of global efforts to clean up social media.
The government introduced a "combating misinformation" bill earlier this year, outlining sweeping powers to fine tech giants for breaching online safety obligations.
Australia's online watchdog is locked in a running battle with Elon Musk's X, accusing the platform of failing to stamp out harmful posts.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the reforms were "truly world-leading".
Social media platforms were repeatedly "falling short", she said at Wednesday's press briefing with Albanese. "Social media companies have been put on notice," Rowland said. "They need to ensure their practices are made safer."
Rowland flagged that there would be financial penalties for tech companies that failed to comply.
© 2024 AFP
13 Comments
Login to comment
Mark
oh, i almost forgot, Australia is a country that practice democracy system and protect/respect human right and freedom...sorry i can't help laughing again
Chiao Chiao
Good luck with that.
Guy Gin and tonic
It’ll be hard to enforce given how many parents in Oz are still children in terms of mental and emotional development, but it’s sending a clear message to all, at least.
The mature among us will applaud this move to protect our children.
Ricky Kaminski13
My 8-year-old darling niece in Australia stole my dad's iPhone and tried to make a TikTok account. Seeing these apps' devastating effects on young children and teens, I reckon this is a great move by the Aussie government. It's a bold one, but it's worth a try. Make the big tech firms accountable for the damage they knowingly do.
mist1
Good!
Futaro Gamagori
It may turn out to be a good idea eventually
M3M3M3
I can see the appeal of this but without even the slightest hint of how it will be enforced, I'm skeptical. When all Australian teenagers migrate to some overseas based service that doesn't comply with Australian regulations, will government also have the power to order ISPs to block it?
Also, why focus only on social media? If they're going to roll out such ambitious and sweeping regulations, why not include mandatory age verification for all pornography sites?
rainyday
Most social media really does belong in the same category as tobacco, gambling and alcohol in terms of how it should be regulated. Like those it is particularly harmful to children, is deliberately designed to be addictive and doesn't offer any countervailing benefits that would outweigh the risks and harms associated with it.
ian
People will spoof location, how to get around that? Ask for citizenship during signups?
WoodyLee
20 or even 21 could be the proper age to expose our kids to the world Scammers, Thugs, Thieves, Pedophiles, child molester, Sex offenders or predators and the rest of the world SCUMS who are working day and night to catch their prey.
Thank you Australia for leading the world in protecting our children from the scum of the earth.
WoodyLee
"" oh, i almost forgot, Australia is a country that practice democracy system and protect/respect human right and freedom...sorry i can't help laughing again""
What doe that has to do with protecting children form TRASH.
piskian
Great.
Kids don't really need it.
They see each other every day!
Mark
when china, N Korea, Afghanistan, are banning the social media, people are crying, such a communist, such autocratic, where is human's right to know? to explore? to protest? to whatever... when Aussie people are doing it, suddenly it becomes such a great move with wisdom, it is exactly the right thing to do to save our kids, parents have absolute right to control their kids' social activities...yes, to be honest, i see a word blinking right above your head, it reads "hypocrite"