Australia To Ban Under-16s From Using Social Media

Australia will become the first country in the world to outlaw social media use among under-16s.

Children will no longer be able to use Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and other platforms after the Australian Senate passed a law confirming the ban. Should companies not comply with the ban, they could be fined up to A$50M ($32.5M).

The law will not come into effect for at least 12 months, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that “social media companies have a social responsibility” and called usage among children “a global problem.” He believes social media usage has a direct link to mental health issues among Australian kids.

However, it’s unclear exactly how the ban will work, and groups such as the Human Rights Law Centre have already questioned how it impacts privacy. If it operates correctly, children will be blocked from viewing sites such as YouTube and Netflix on their own.

A form of age verification technology, biometrics or governmental identification will be used to minter usage. However, VPNs, which hide a per’s IP address and make it appear they are somewhere else in the world, can be used as easily workarounds and children who are caught using social media will not be penalized.

The social media bill was passed by 34 votes to 19 today in Australia, and will move to the House of Representatives for amendments. Given the government has a majority in the House, the bill will be passed into law.

When the bill was introduced last week, X owner Elon Musk messaged to say: “Seems like a backdoor was to control access to the internet by all Australians.”

Yesterday, Meta criticising the bill in its submission to the government last week. “In the absence of such results, neither industry nor Australians will understand the nature or scale of age assurance required by the bill, nor the impact of such measures on Australians,” said the Facebook and Instagram owner. “In the present form, the bill is inconsistent and ineffective.”

Google similarly critiqued the bill by saying the left-wing Australian government should wait to see results from the age-verification system before moving forwards.

TikTok owner Bytedance Aldo weighed in, saying: “Where novel policy is put forward, it’s important that legislation is drafted in a thorough and considered way, to ensure it is able to achieve its stated intention. This has not been the case with respect to this bill.”