A ban on social media for under-16s has been passed by the Australian Senate and will soon become the first law in the world

On November 29, 2024By Pranco

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A ban on social media for children under 16 was passed by the Australian Senate on Thursday and will soon become the law of the world.

The law will make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit,

The Senate passed the bill by 34 votes to 19. The House of Representatives passed it on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved the legislation with 102 votes in favor and 13 against.

The House of Representatives has yet to approve the opposition amendments tabled in the Senate. But that is a formality as the government has already agreed to its approval.

The platforms will have a year to figure out how to implement the ban before sanctions are imposed.

Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said the legislation was “rushed.”

Digital Industry Group Inc., an advocate for the platforms in Australia, said questions remain about the law’s impact on children, its technical foundations and scope.

“The social media ban legislation was released and passed within a week and as a result no one can explain with certainty how it will work in practice – the community and platforms are left in the dark as to what exactly is required of them” , DIGI director Sunita Bose said in a statement.

The changes strengthen privacy protection. Platforms would not be able to force users to provide government-issued identity documents, including passports or driver’s licenses, nor would they be able to require digital identification through a government system.

The House of Representatives will approve the amendments on Friday. Critics of the legislation fear that banning young children from social media will impact the privacy of users who must establish that they are over 16 years old.

While the major parties support the ban, many child welfare and mental health advocates worry about the unintended consequences.

Senator David Shoebridge, from the minority Green Party, said mental health experts agreed the ban could dangerously isolate many children who used social media to find support.

“These policies will most harm vulnerable young people, especially in regional communities and especially the LGBTQI community, by cutting them off,” Shoebridge told the Senate.

Opposition Senator Maria Kovacic said the bill was not radical but necessary. “The heart of this legislation is simple: it requires social media companies to take reasonable steps to identify and remove underage users from their platforms,” Kovacic told the Senate.

“This is a responsibility that these companies should have fulfilled a long time ago, but for too long they have pushed these responsibilities aside in favor of profit,” she added.

Online safety activist Sonya Ryan, whose 15-year-old daughter Carly was murdered by a 50-year-old pedophile posing as a teenager online, described the Senate vote as a “monumental moment in protecting our children from terrible harm online. ”

“It is too late for my daughter Carly and the many other children who have suffered terribly and those who have lost their lives in Australia, but on their behalf let us stand together and embrace this together,” she told the AP in an email -mail. .

Wayne Holdsworth, whose teenage son Mac committed suicide after falling victim to an online sextortion scam, had advocated for the age restriction and was proud it was passed.

“I have always been a proud Australian, but today’s Senate decision leaves me bursting with pride,” Holdsworth told the AP in an email.

Christopher Stone, executive director of Suicide Prevention Australia, the governing body for the suicide prevention sector, said the legislation does not take into account the positive aspects of social media in supporting young people’s mental health and sense of belonging.

“The government is hitting a wall blindfolded by rushing this legislation. Young Australians deserve evidence-based policies, not hasty decisions,” Stone said in a statement.

The platforms had complained that the law would be unworkable and had urged the Senate to delay the vote until at least June 2025, when a government-commissioned review of age assurance technologies will report on how young children can are excluded.

“We naturally respect the laws established by the Australian Parliament,” Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms said in a statement. “However, we are concerned about the process that has rushed the legislation through without properly taking into account the evidence, what the industry is already doing to deliver age-appropriate experiences, and the voices of young people .”

Critics claim the government is trying to convince parents it is protecting their children ahead of May’s general election. The government hopes voters will reward it for responding to parents’ concerns about their children’s addiction to social media. Some argue that the legislation could cause more harm than it prevents.

Criticisms include that the legislation has been rushed through parliament without adequate scrutiny, is ineffective, poses privacy risks for all users and undermines the authority of parents to make decisions for their children.

Opponents also argue that the ban would isolate children, deprive them of the positive aspects of social media, drive them to the dark web, discourage children too young for social media from reporting harm, and reduce incentives for platforms to improve online security.

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AP Business Writer Kelvin Chan in London contributed to this report.