The Australian Senate on Wednesday adopted a law which, once signed by the leader of the country who strongly supported it, will ban children under 16s to use most social media platforms. The new law will impose the toughest restrictions on children’s use of hugely popular social media apps of any democracy in the world.
The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 34 to 19 on Thursday, a day after the Australian House of Representatives. passed the same bill by a large majority of 102 votes to 13.
Australia’s major parties in the House have all backed the bill, which will see social media companies such as TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram face fines of up to A$50 million ( 33 million dollars) for failing to prevent persons under 16 years of age. to create accounts on their platforms.
Tech giant Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, has called for the bill to be delayed. In a statement Published online on Tuesday, Meta said it was “concerned that the government is rushing through this legislation without adequate consultation or evidence and that there are still many unknowns about its implementation.”
“The government’s approach will likely require each app provider to collect personally identifiable or biometric data from all Australians in order to prevent under-16s from accessing their services, an inefficient and cumbersome process for any the world,” said a Meta spokesperson.
Meta also highlighted a policy introduced earlier this year on its Instagram platform, Instagram Accounts for Teens, which limits who can contact teens through their accounts and attempts to moderate the content young users see.
In a post shared last week on the X platform he owns, tech billionaire Elon Musk also condemned the Australian bill, saying it seemed “like a back door to control everyone’s access to the Internet.” Australians.
Image by Mick Tsikas/AAP via AP
Other independent and non-profit organizations have also criticized the bill, expressing concern that young people’s human rights could be restricted.
CEO of the Save the Children charity, Mat Tinkler, said: in a statement Earlier this month, while welcoming the government’s efforts to protect children from online dangers, the solution should be to regulate social media companies, rather than introducing a blanket ban.
“We are calling on the government to reconsider this legislative approach and instead use the momentum of the moment to hold social media giants accountable, to demand that they build security into their platforms rather than adding it as an afterthought, and to work closely with experts and children and young people themselves to make online spaces safer, rather than forbidden,” Tinkler said.
THE Australian Human Rights Commissionan independent government body, expressed its own “serious reservations” about the bill in an analysis published last week.
“There are less restrictive alternatives that could achieve the aim of protecting children and young people from online harm, but without having as significant a negative impact on other human rights. An example of an alternative response would be to impose a legal duty of care on social media companies,” the analysis states. “We also need to help children and young people better navigate online spaces by ensuring that the national curriculum has a specific focus on teaching digital literacy and online safety. »
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dismissed criticism of the bill as it addressed Parliament Monday.
“There are common sense exemptions. We want to ensure that young people can continue to access services related to health and education – Headspace, YouTube, Google Classroom – as well as messaging services and online games,” he said .
The Australian leader added that there would be “very strict and stringent privacy requirements to protect people’s personal information, including a requirement to destroy information provided once age has been verified.”
Despite the criticism, the legislation remains popular among Australians, according to recent poll data.
A YouGov survey released on Tuesday showed that 77% of Australians support the ban on under-16s, and 87% of them said they supported the introduction of tougher penalties for social media companies that fail to comply with the regulation.