CANBERRA: Global social media firms could face fines of as much as A$50 million (US$32 million) if they fail to enforce the Australian government’s new social media ban on children under the age of 16.
Australia’s centre-left government on Thursday (Nov 21) introduced the Bill in Parliament.
Australia plans to trial an age-verification system that may include biometrics or government identification to enforce a social media age cut-off, which are some of the toughest controls imposed by any country to date.
The proposals include the highest age limit set by any country, and would have no exemption for parental consent and no exemption for pre-existing accounts.
“This is a landmark reform. We know some kids will find workarounds, but we’re sending a message to social media companies to clean up their act,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.
The opposition Liberal party plans to support the Bill, though independents and the Green party have demanded more details on the proposed law, which would impact Meta Platforms’ Instagram and Facebook, Bytedance’s TikTok and Elon Musk’s X and Snapchat.
Under the Bill, big tech will be required to take reasonable steps to prevent children from having an account. Fines will be levied on firms that systematically breach the legislation.
There will be exceptions embedded into the legislation for certain types of online services, including messaging applications, online gaming platforms, and health and education.
“The legislation places the onus on social media platforms, not parents or children, to ensure protections are in place,” Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in a statement. “Ultimately, this is about supporting a safer and healthier online environment for young Australians.”
Australia is following a number of other countries that have attempted to restrict access to social media for children, with mixed success.
Norway imposed a minimum age of 13 on social media use, yet surveys found more than 70 per cent of 11-year-olds there were still using the popular platforms.
There are no details yet on how the ban in Australia will be enforced, although the government said new privacy provisions would be included in the legislation to underpin the ban.
Rowland told colleagues in the Labor caucus this week that Australians would not be required to upload identification. She also said there would be no exemptions for children who have parental consent to use social media.
So far there has been a muted response from social media companies. Both Meta and X have said they would like to see application stores such as those run by Google and Apple be responsible for enforcing age verification, rather than the platforms themselves.
“If every single app is required to implement its own age-appropriate controls, then the burden is really going to fall on young people and parents for each of the different apps that a young person wants to use,” Meta Regional Policy Director for Australia Mia Garlick said in an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corp. - Agencies
