Published10. September 2024, 20:36
Cyberbullying: Australia wants to ban teens from social media
Faced with online harassment, the government wants to deprive children under 14 or 16 of access to the internet. Some doubt that the measure will be applicable.
An age verification test at login will be conducted in the coming months on Snapchat, Instagram or TikTok.
AFP
Canberra will set a minimum age for social media use, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced yesterday. Calling the sites a “scourge” on young people, he said the law setting the age limit – at 14 or 16 – would be implemented this year as parents expect “a response to online bullying” and a way to control access to “dangerous content.”
Networks that “harm society”
An age verification test at login will be conducted in the coming months on Snapchat, Instagram or TikTok, before the text comes into force, added Anthony Albanese. The Prime Minister, a centre-left, said:
“I want to see children away from their screens and instead on football fields, in swimming pools and on tennis courts”
He added: “We want them to have real experiences with real people, because we know that social media is hurting society.”
Risk of exclusion of young people
But analysts say an age limit will not help young people in social difficulty. Moreover, the measure comes before the final report of a parliamentary inquiry into the effects of social networks.
The bill “undermines the inquiry and threatens to exclude young people from meaningful and healthy digital participation,” says Daniel Angus, a professor at the University of Queensland. The law could redirect many children to “lower quality online spaces” by “removing important means of social connection.”
According to Toby Murray, a professor at the University of Melbourne, it is not even certain that the technical means to enforce such a limit exist today. “We already know that current methods are not reliable and that they are too easy to circumvent.”
Restrictions are flourishing, from China to the United States
A bill setting the minimum age for social media at 13 was introduced in the US Senate in April, but a date for its review has not yet been set. In Florida, you will have to be 16 to register freely. At 14 and 15, parental consent will be required to create an account. Under 14, registration will be prohibited, under penalty of a fine. Finally, in China, while there is no minimum age for registration, minors do not have access to the internet from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
(afp)
