Australia\u2019s prime minister on Thursday vowed to ban children under 16 from social media, saying the pervasive influence of platforms like Facebook and TikTok was \u201cdoing real harm to our kids\u201d. The tech giants would be held responsible for enforcing the age limit and face hefty fines if regulators notice young users slipping through the cracks, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. Australia is among the vanguard of nations trying to clean up social media, and the proposed age limit would be among the world\u2019s strictest measures aimed at children. \u201cThis one is for the mums and dads. Social media is doing real harm to kids and I\u2019m calling time on it,\u201d Albanese told reporters outside parliament. The new laws would be presented to state and territory leaders this week, before being introduced to parliament in late November. Once passed, the tech platforms would be given a one-year grace period to figure out how to implement and enforce the ban. \u201cThe onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access,\u201d Albanese said, explaining what he dubbed a \u201cworld-leading\u201d reform. \u201cThe onus won\u2019t be on parents or young people.\u201d Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said it would \u201crespect any age limitations the government wants to introduce\u201d. But Antigone Davis, Meta\u2019s head of safety, said Australia should think carefully about how these restrictions were implemented. She said poorly drafted laws \u201crisk making ourselves feel better, like we have taken action, but teens and parents will not find themselves in a better place\u201d. Snapchat pointed to a statement from industry body DIGI, which warned that a ban could stop teenagers from accessing \u201cmental health support\u201d. \u201cSwimming has risks, but we don\u2019t ban young people from the beach, we teach them to swim between the flags,\u201d a DIGI spokeswoman said. TikTok said it had nothing to add at this stage. \u2018Falling short\u2019 Once celebrated as a means of staying connected and informed, social media platforms have been tarnished by cyberbullying, the spread of illegal content, and election-meddling claims. \u201cI get things popping up on my system that I don\u2019t want to see. Let alone a vulnerable 14-year-old,\u201d Albanese said. \u201cYoung women see images of particular body shapes that have a real impact.\u201d Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said social media companies were repeatedly \u201cfalling short\u201d in their obligations. \u201cSocial media companies have been put on notice. They need to ensure their practices are made safer,\u201d she told reporters at a press briefing alongside Albanese. Rowland said companies like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Elon Musk\u2019s X would face financial penalties if they flouted the laws. While Rowland did not detail how big these would be, she suggested fines of US$600,000 (Aus $1 million) were well below the mark for companies boasting yearly revenues in the tens of billions of dollars. Analysts have expressed doubt it would be technically feasible to enforce a strict age ban. \u201cWe already know that present age verification methods are unreliable, too easy to circumvent, or risk user privacy,\u201d University of Melbourne researcher Toby Murray said earlier this year. A series of exemptions would be hashed out for platforms such as YouTube that teenagers may need to use for school work or other reasons. Australia has in recent years ramped up efforts to regulate the tech giants, with mixed success. A \u201ccombating misinformation\u201d bill was introduced earlier this year, outlining sweeping powers to fine tech companies for breaching online safety obligations. It has also moved to outlaw the sharing of so-called \u201cdeepfake\u201d pornography without consent. But attempts to regulate content on Musk\u2019s X \u2014 previously known as Twitter \u2014 have become bogged down in a long-running courtroom battle. The tech mogul likened the Australian government to \u201cfascists\u201d earlier this year after they announced they would crack down on fake news. Several other countries have been tightening children\u2019s access to social media platforms. Spain passed a law in June banning social media access to under-16s. In the US state of Florida, children under the age of 14 will be banned from opening social media accounts under a new law due to come into force in January. But in both cases, the age verification method has yet to be determined. France passed laws in 2023 that require social media platforms to verify users\u2019 ages \u2014 and obtain parental consent if they are younger than 15. China has restricted access for minors since 2021, with under-14s not allowed to spend more than 40 minutes a day on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. Online gaming time for children is also limited in China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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