Today, Australia became the first country to pass a law that bans children under the age of 16 from using social media. The law was passed Friday by Australian Parliament with the Senate passing it by a margin of 34 to 19. The House of Representatives voted 102 to 13 in favor of the legislation. Social media platforms including Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, X, and Instagram could be fined as much as 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for failing to keep children 16 and younger from having accounts.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, “Platforms now have a social responsibility to ensure the safety of our kids is a priority for them.” He also pointed out that the law supports parents who are concerned about how social media platforms hurt their children.
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The law gives social media platforms one year to figure out how they can avoid penalties by making sure that they are following the new law. Despite the age restrictions, privacy policies were bolstered by the law. While critics worry about how the privacy of all users will be affected by the legislation, social media platforms cannot require users to provide government-issued identification such as driver’s licenses and passports to prove that they are over 16 years old.
Australian parents might be pleased with the law, but the social media platforms were not happy. Meta Platforms which, owns Facebook and Instagram, called the legislation “rushed.” Meta said that in the process of getting the law passed, lawmakers failed to examine what the social media platforms are currently doing to “ensure age-appropriate experiences, and the voices of young people.”
Digital Industries Group (DIGI), which represents the digital industry in Australia including social media platforms, said that questions remain about how the law will impact children and the scope of the legislation.
“The social media ban legislation has been released and passed within a week and, as a result, no one can confidently explain how it will work in practice – the community and platforms are in the dark about what exactly is required of them.”-Sunita Bose, DIGI managing director
Sen. David Shoebridge, a member of the minority Greens party, says that the new law will do damage to vulnerable young people, mostly those in regional communities. He specifically focused on the LGBTQ+ community as a group that might feel cut off without access to social media platforms. There will be exemptions for services delivering health and education content including YouTube, Messenger Kids, WhatsApp, Kids Helpline, and Google Classroom.
“The core focus of this legislation is simple: It demands that social media companies take reasonable steps to identify and remove underage users from their platforms. This is a responsibility these companies should have been fulfilling long ago, but for too long they have shirked these responsibilities in favor of profit.”-Sen. Maria Kovacic
Critics also argued that the bill was passed in order to sway parents that the government is protecting their children ahead of a national election scheduled for May. The critics also fear that once cut off from social media platforms, children 16 and under will turn to the dark web.