Recently, Australian government passed a law banning social media usage for children who are under the age of 16. This law makes it the first country to implement such rules.
Previously, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had talked about the initiative to ban social media for the children under the age of 16. This law aimed to address the negative impact of social media on children’s mental health and safety.
How will the law get implemented?
According to the new law passed in Parliament, now social media platforms will have to enforce stricter age verification measures and ensure that children under the age of 16 are unable to access or create accounts on these major social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.
These regulations are all set to take effect in early 2025 in order to give both social media companies and parents time to adapt to the changes.
As per the news law, platforms will detect and block users under 16. If the platforms fail to do so then will face penalties. Repeated violations of the law could result in increasing fees, reaching up to even 50 million dollars.
In a news conference, PM Anthony Albanese talked about the online safety of the kids and said, “This one is for the mums and dads. They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online. I want Australian families to know that the government has your back.”
“I get things popping up on my system that I don't want to see. Let alone a vulnerable 14-year-old. If you're a 14-year-old kid getting this stuff, at a time where you're going through life's changes and maturing, it can be a really difficult time and what we're doing is listening and then acting, young women see images of particular body shapes that have a real impact.”
“Social media is doing harm to our kids and I'm calling time on it. The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access. The onus won’t be on parents or young people. There’ll be no penalties for users,” he further added.
However, this is not the first time a country has restricted children to use social media platforms. Previously, France had proposed a similar ban on social media for children under the age of 15. However, the users were able to avoid this ban by getting parental consent.