Australia moves to ban children under 16 from social media

Good luck with that.

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.

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.

Good!

It may turn out to be a good idea eventually

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?

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.

People will spoof location, how to get around that? Ask for citizenship during signups?

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.

"" 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.

Great.

Kids don't really need it.

They see each other every day!

A series of exemptions would be decided for platforms such as YouTube, which teenagers may need to use for school work or other reasons.

Acknowledging it's pretty much next to impossible so they'll grant exception to select platforms

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"

Australia isn't banning social media anymore than it bans alcohol, tobacco or gambling. Putting sensible age restrictions on something that is harmful to children is something democratic governments absolutely should be doing. There is nothing hypocritical about that.

I love this, bravo Australia.

'Social Media' is an absolute scourge on teenagers and young kids. It's designed to leverage and manipulate some on the worst aspects of people in a very vulnerable stage of their social, emotional and intellectual development. The kids can't see that of course, they are literally attached at an addictive and muddy cocktail teat of dopamine hits, false stimulation, artificiality and clever manipulation that they have no control over.

Adults who still remember the old ways of functional and healthy upbringings and socialization we have used for tens of millennia are stepping in to restore balance, or at least try.

Brilliant idea.

Wonder what happens the first time they log when they turn 17

The better parent than your dad and mom is the government.

How will young people stay up to date with the latest information without social media. Newspapers and television are museum pieces now. Most people use the internet and social media to find out the news. Also schools use it to share information.

Social Media is more potent than Drugs or any form of narcotics simply because it is Legal.

I have banned social media from myself. (I'm assuming making posts in JT is not social media, since I'm responding to an article in the media.)

Scan of passport? Scan of birth certificate? Genius idea to get people to digitise and transmit ID info that can then be snaffled. Plus, how will tourists use social media when on holiday in Australia? Are they banning 15 year old foreign tourists from using it? When there are local weather issues, most schools use social media to alert kids that their schools are closed. During Covid, they used it to stay in touch with their pupils.

Either get parents to do their job under threat of being fined or social media can pull out of Australia. It's only 26 million people. If they stay there, the Aussie government will just use them as a piggy bank to make up for all their financial failures.

social media and reading what people say on the internet will make you stupid.

social media and reading what people say on the internet will make you stupid.

All of the time for social media and most of the time for "alternate" news places.

I just want all social networks to require opt-in for any tracking. Opt-in is easy. If I log into their website, then I agree. If I don't, then they shouldn't be storing anything I do anywhere online. Not one bit or one byte of data should remain on their servers.

Ban phones for them as well. Ban walking and holding a phone in your hand as well. The would would be a better place.

They should just ban all social media and setup a government website to take its place. If people want to dump their personal info on the internet, let them put it somewhere that can be held accountable.

Be careful what you wish for Oz....Meta is already annoyed with the demand to make them pay for any news hosted on their sites in Australia, now this. They might just decide to pull out of Australia completely. No soup for you! (not just the kids)

Give parents a way to block access and let them know how, in easy steps, to make that possible on all their devices.

Of course, every child over 7 knows that lying will work in the world, so expect they will lie. But if the parent can block Social network A, B, C, D, E, from a phone and computer, completely (do it at the DNS level), then that will make it very clear this isn't allowed in our home on our devices.

Now, if a parent doesn't mind their child having access, that's fine too. Their child, their choice.

If this law passes, it will just make social media companies accountable for recruiting and advertising to children. I can't see how that would be bad.