Australian PM Anthony Albanese wants ban on social media for under 16s

Legislation to forestall children accessing societal media volition beryllium introduced by Australia’s parliament aboriginal this twelvemonth and volition instrumentality effect 12 months aft ratification.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced plans to legislate for a prohibition connected societal media for children nether 16 years of age, an inaugural his authorities says is world-leading.

Australia’s Minister of Communications Michelle Rowland said connected Thursday that the societal media platforms impacted would see Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, arsenic good arsenic Bytedance’s video-sharing TikTok and Elon Musk’s X, antecedently known arsenic Twitter.

Rowland said that Alphabet’s YouTube would besides apt autumn wrong the scope of the legislation.

“Social media is doing harm to our kids, and I’m calling clip connected it,” Prime Minister Albanese told a quality conference.

Legislation volition beryllium introduced into parliament this year, with the laws coming into effect 12 months aft the instrumentality is ratified by parliamentarians, helium added.

There volition beryllium nary exemptions for users who person parental consent, Albanese said.

“The onus volition beryllium connected societal media platforms to show they are taking tenable steps to forestall access,” helium said.

“The onus won’t beryllium connected parents oregon young people,” helium added.

A projected societal media prohibition for children successful Australia was raised earlier this twelvemonth and received wide bipartisan enactment successful parliament.

The 4 societal media companies targeted by the prohibition were not instantly reachable for comment.

A fig of countries person promised to curb societal media usage among children done legislation, though Australia’s connection appears to beryllium 1 of the astir stringent.

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

Earlier this year, the US’s Surgeon-General Dr Vivek Murthy called connected Congress to necessitate societal media platforms to transportation warning labels detailing their effects connected young people’s lives, akin to those present mandatory connected cigaret boxes.

The US besides requires exertion companies to question parental consent to entree the information of children nether 13, starring astir societal media platforms to prohibition those nether that property from accessing their services. Analysts, however, person antecedently expressed uncertainty that it was technically imaginable to enforce specified a ban.

“We already cognize that contiguous property verification methods are unreliable, excessively casual to circumvent, oregon hazard idiosyncratic privacy,” University of Melbourne researcher, Toby Murray, said earlier this year.

Australia has been astatine the forefront of efforts to rein successful societal media. The country’s online watchdog is locked successful a moving conflict with Elon Musk’s X, accusing the level of failing to stamp retired harmful posts.

The authorities besides introduced a “combating misinformation” measure earlier this year, outlining sweeping powers to good tech firms for breaching online information obligations.

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Al Jazeera and quality agencies