Australian States Unanimously Backs Govt's Plan to Ban Social Media For Kids Below 16

Sydney: Australia’s states and territories on Friday unanimously backed a national plan to require most forms of social media to bar children younger than 16.

Leers of eight provinces held a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to discuss what he calls a world-first national approach that would make platforms including X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook responsible for enforcing limit.

“Social media is doing social harm to our young Australians,” Albanese told reporters. “ safety and mental health of our young people has to be a priority.”

government leers h been discussing for months setting a limit, considering options from 14 to 16 years of .

While Tasmania would have preferred 14, state was prepared to support 16 in interests of achieving national uniformity, Albanese said.

legislation will be introduced into Parliament within two weeks, and ban would take effect a year after it passes into law, giving platforms time to work out how to exclude children. government has yet to offer a technical solution.

delay is also intended to allow time to dress privacy concerns around verification.

main opposition party has given in-principle support to 16-year limit since it was anunced on Thursday, suggesting legislation will pass Senate.

mir Greens party was critical, saying ban would prevent emergence in Australia of future child environmental activists like Sweden’s Greta Thunberg.

More than 140 acemics with expertise in fields related to techlogy and child welfare signed an open letter to Albanese last month opposing a social media limit as “too blunt an instrument to dress risks effectively.”

Critics say most teenrs are tech savvy eugh to get around such laws. Some fear ban will create conflicts within families and drive social media problems underground.

Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, argues that stronger tools in app stores and operating systems for parents to control what apps ir children can use would be a “simple and effective solution.”

government likens proposed social media limit to laws that restrict sale of alcohol to ults d 18 and older across Australia. Children still find ways to drink, but prohibition remains.

“We think se laws will make a real positive difference,” Albanese said.

But Lisa Given, professor of information sciences at RMIT University, described legislation as “really problematic.”

“Many of our social networks are actually about provision of extremely critical information to kids,” Given told Australian Brocasting Corp.

“re’s doubt that y’re also facing bullying and or challenges online, but y actually need social supports to kw how to navigate platforms safely and so y need more support from parents, from care-givers, t less access to a single or multiple platforms,” Given ded.

Tama Leaver, professor of internet studies at Curtin University, described government’s plan to remove 14 and 15-year-olds from ir alrey established social media accounts was “strange.”

“If you’ve alrey developed that in that world, to have it taken away really could do as much harm as harms that are purportedly being fixed,” Leaver said.

“re are so many questions about this that have yet to be answered, but even if we h solid answers about how this might work technically and how this might get implemented socially, it’s still hard to believe that this would actually keep kids safe online,” he ded.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said children would retain access to online education and health services.

legislation would also include strong privacy protections surrounding verification.

“Privacy must be paramount, including that of children,” Rowland said. “We should also be very clear about realities. se platforms kw about ir users in a way that one else does.”

Rowland said YouTube would likely be included among mainstream platforms defined under legislation as restricted services.

But YouTube Kids could be exempted. Gaming and messaging services would t face restrictions, she said,

“This legislation would strike a balance between minimizing harms experienced by young people during a critical period of ir development while also supporting ir access to benefits as well,” Rowland said.

(Except heline, this story is t edited by Republic and is published from a syndicated feed)