Australia is planning to pass “world-leading” legislation to protect children from harmful social media use. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the law, which will enforced later next year, will ban under-16s from using social media platforms including TikTok, Facebook, X, Instagram and likely Google’s YouTube.
"Social media is doing harm to our kids and I'm calling time on it," Albanese said during a news conference on Thursday. Citing how excessive social media use is harming the physical and mental health of children, Albanese highlighted risks to girls in particular from harmful depictions of body image, and misogynist content aimed at boys. "If you're a 14-year-old kid getting this stuff, at a time where you're going through life's changes and maturing, it can be a really difficult time and what we're doing is listening and then acting," Reuters quoted the PM as saying.
The island nation is currently testing age-verification systems using biometrics and government IDs to block children under 16 from accessing social media platforms. Reportedly, the legislation will not exempt underage users with parental consent or those who already have active accounts.
The prime minister said the law will tabled in the Australian Parliament later this month and it will come into effect next year, after it is ratified by all lawmakers. "The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access. The onus won't be on parents or young people,” PM Albanese said.
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Australia’s Law Minister Michelle Rowland said the platforms affected by the new law would include Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and X. Rowland added YouTube is also likely to fall within the scope of the legislation.
Industry representative body DIGI called the move dangerous and said it would only encourage children to explore darker, unregulated parts of the internet. Sunita Bose, Managing Director of the body including Meta, TikTok, X and Alphabet's Google as members, said, "Keeping young people safe online is a top priority...but the proposed ban for teenagers to access digital platforms is a 20th-century response to 21st-century challenges.” Bose said creating age-appropriate spaces and digital literacy was the way forward.