Australia is about to ban social media for anyone under 16; how it will work
FILE-In this photo illustration, a kid uses social media apps on a cell phone. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
A social media ban for children under 16 was passed by the Australian Senate on Thursday and will soon become law.
The Associated Press reported that under the legislation, social media platforms, including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram could be fined up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for failures to prevent children younger than 16 from having social media accounts.
The social media companies argued that the law would be unworkable and pushed the Senate to delay the vote until June 2025, when a government-commissioned assessment of age assurance technologies will report on how young children could be excluded.
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These social media platforms have one year to work out how they could implement the ban before penalties are enacted.
Additionally, the platforms would not be allowed to encourage users to provide government-issued identity documents like passports or driver’s licenses, and they could not demand digital identification through a government system.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, tells the AP that the law had been "rushed."
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According to the AP, the House is scheduled to pass the amendments on Friday. Critics of the law worry that prohibiting young children from social media will affect the privacy of social media users required to show they are older than 16.
Critics of the law contend that the legislation was rushed through Parliament, is ineffective, and presents privacy risks for all users, and challenges the authority of parents to make decisions for their children.
They also assert that the social media ban would isolate children, strip them of the positive aspects of social media, drive them to the dark web, discourage kids too young for social media to report harm, and limit motivations for social media platforms to improve online safety, the Associated Press reported.