Australia’s Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that, if signed by the country’s strongly supportive leaders, would: ban children Those under the age of 16 may not use most social media platforms. The new law will give Australia the toughest restrictions on children’s use of wildly popular social media apps among the world’s democracies.
The Australian Senate passed the bill by a margin of 34 to 19 on Thursday, a day after the House of Representatives passed the bill by a landslide vote of 102 to 13.
All major parties in Australia’s House of Commons support the bill, which would see social media companies including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram face up to A$50 million for failing to prevent under-16s from using the bill. ($33 million) in fines. There is no need to create an account on the platform.
Tech giant Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, has called for the bill to be delayed. “We are concerned that the government has rushed through this bill without sufficient consultation or evidence, and that there are still many unknowns regarding its implementation,” Mehta said in a statement posted online on Tuesday. said.
A Meta spokesperson said: “The government’s approach requires app providers to collect personally identifiable information and biometric data from all Australians to ensure that under-16s cannot access their services. “However, this is an inefficient and burdensome process for everyone.”
Mehta also pointed to policies the platform introduced earlier this year for teen accounts on Instagram, which limit who can contact teens through their accounts and try to curb the content young users see. he pointed out.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk also criticized Australia’s bill in a post shared on his X platform last week, calling it a “backdoor way to control access to the internet for all Australians.” “It looks like a method.”
Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP
Other independent organizations and nonprofit organizations have also taken aim at the bill, expressing concern that it could limit the human rights of young people.
Matt Tinkler, chief executive of the charity Save the Children, said in a statement earlier this month that while he welcomed the government’s efforts to protect children from online harm, there were no solutions at all. He said social media companies should be regulated rather than introducing a ban.
“We urge governments to reconsider this legislative approach and instead use the momentum of this moment to hold social media giants to account and build security into their platforms rather than adding security as an afterthought. “We’re calling on them to build on this and work closely with governments to ensure that online spaces are no longer off-limits and safer for professionals, children and young people themselves,” Tinkler said. spoke.
The Australian Human Rights Commission, an independent government body, expressed its own “serious reservations” about the bill in an analysis published last week.
“Less restrictive alternatives are available that achieve the objective of protecting children and young people from online harm without significant adverse impact on other human rights. Examples of alternative responses include: “A legal duty of care could be imposed on social media companies,” the analysis said. “We also need to help children and young people better navigate online spaces by ensuring national curricula include a focus on teaching digital literacy and online safety.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking in Parliament on Monday, rejected criticism of the proposed legislation.
“There are common-sense exceptions,” he said. “We want young people to continue to have access to health and education-related services like Headspace, YouTube and Google Classroom, as well as messaging services and online games.”
Australian leaders added that there would be “very strong and stringent privacy requirements to protect people’s personal information, including an obligation to destroy information provided after age verification”.
Recent polling data shows that despite the criticism, the bill remains popular among Australians.
A YouGov poll released on Tuesday found 77% of Australians support banning entry for under-16s and 87% support introducing stronger penalties for social media companies that don’t comply with regulations. I answered.
