Australia proposes 'world-leading' ban on social media for children under 16

sydney — 

The Australian authorities volition legislate for a prohibition connected societal media for children nether 16, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said connected Thursday, successful what it calls a world-leading bundle of measures that could go instrumentality precocious adjacent year.

Australia is trying retired an age-verification strategy to assistance successful blocking children from accessing societal media platforms, arsenic portion of a scope of measures that see immoderate of the toughest controls imposed by immoderate state to date.

"Social media is doing harm to our kids and I'm calling clip connected it," Albanese told a quality conference.

Albanese cited the risks to carnal and intelligence wellness of children from excessive societal media use, successful peculiar the risks to girls from harmful depictions of assemblage image, and misogynist contented aimed astatine boys.

"If you're a 14-year-old kid getting this stuff, astatine a clip wherever you're going done life's changes and maturing, it tin beryllium a truly hard time, and what we're doing is listening and past acting," helium said.

A fig of countries person already vowed to curb societal media usage by children done legislation, though Australia's argumentation is 1 of the astir stringent.

No jurisdiction truthful acold has tried utilizing property verification methods similar biometrics oregon authorities recognition to enforce a societal media property cut-off, 2 of the methods being tried.

Australia's different world-first proposals are the highest property bounds acceptable by immoderate country, nary exemption for parental consent and nary exemption for pre-existing accounts.

Legislation volition beryllium introduced into the Australian parliament this year, with the laws coming into effect 12 months aft being ratified by lawmakers, Albanese said.

The absorption Liberal Party has expressed enactment for a ban.

"The onus volition beryllium connected societal media platforms to show they are taking tenable steps to forestall access," Albanese said. "The onus won't beryllium connected parents oregon young people."

"What we are announcing present and what we volition legislate volition beryllium genuinely world-leading," Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said.

Rowland said platforms impacted would see Meta Platforms' Instagram and Facebook, arsenic good arsenic Bytedance's TikTok and Elon Musk's X. Alphabet's YouTube would apt besides autumn wrong the scope of the legislation, she added.

TikTok declined to comment, portion Meta, Alphabet and X did not respond to requests for comment.

The Digital Industry Group, a typical assemblage that includes Meta, TikTok, X and Alphabet's Google arsenic members, said the measurement could promote young radical to research darker, unregulated parts of the net portion cutting their entree to enactment networks.

"Keeping young radical harmless online is simply a apical precedence ... but the projected prohibition for teenagers to entree integer platforms is simply a 20th Century effect to 21st Century challenges," said DIGI Managing Director Sunita Bose.

"Rather than blocking entree done bans, we request to instrumentality a balanced attack to make age-appropriate spaces, physique integer literacy and support young radical from online harm," she added.

France past twelvemonth projected a prohibition connected societal media for those nether 15, though users were capable to debar the prohibition with parental consent.

The United States has for decades required exertion companies to question parental consent to entree the information of children nether 13, starring to astir societal media platforms banning those nether that property from accessing their services.