Australia\u2019s parliament has passed a world-first law banning social media for children under 16, putting tech companies on notice to tighten security before a cut-off date that\u2019s yet to be set. <\/p>\n
The Senate approved the social media ban <\/strong>late on Thursday, the last sitting day of the year, following months of intense public debate and a rushed parliamentary process that saw the bill introduced, debated and passed within a week. <\/p>\n Under the new law, tech companies must take \u201creasonable steps\u201d to prevent under-age users from accessing social media services or face fines of nearly 50 million Australian dollars ($32 million). <\/p>\n It\u2019s the world\u2019s toughest response yet to a problem that has seen other countries impose restrictions but not hold companies accountable for breaches of a nationwide ban. The ban is expected to apply to Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and X, but that list could expand. <\/p>\n Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told legislators that \u201cevery serious government\u201d was grappling with the impact of social media on young people, and the leaders he\u2019d spoken to had applauded Australia\u2019s initiative on the issue. <\/p>\n \u201cWe know that social media can be a weapon for bullies, a platform for peer pressure, a driver of anxiety, a vehicle for scammers. And worst of all, a tool for online predators,\u201d he told Parliament on Monday. <\/p>\n Defending the age limit of 16, he said children at that age are better able to spot \u201cthe fakes and the danger.\u201d <\/p>\n The bill was backed by most members of Australia\u2019s main opposition party, the Liberal Party, with Liberal Sen. Maria Kovacic describing it as a \u201cpivotal moment in our country.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWe have drawn a line in the sand. The enormous power of big tech can no longer remain unchecked in Australia,\u201d she said Thursday before the vote. <\/p>\n But it met fierce opposition from some independents and smaller parties, including Greens Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, who accused the major parties of trying to \u201cfool\u201d Australian parents. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is a disaster unfolding before our eyes,\u201d she said. \u201cYou couldn\u2019t make this stuff up. The prime minister says he\u2019s worried about social media. The leader of the opposition says, \u2018Let\u2019s ban it.\u2019 <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a race to the bottom to try and pretend who can be the toughest, and all they end up with is pushing young people into further isolation and giving the platforms the opportunity to continue the free-for-all, because now there\u2019s no social responsibility required. <\/p>\n \u201cWe need to make social media safer for everybody.\u201d <\/p>\n The government has faced considerable criticism for the speed of the legislation. <\/p>\n Submissions to a Senate committee inquiry into the bill were open for just 24 hours before a three-hour hearing on Monday. The inquiry report was released Tuesday, and the bill passed the lower house on Wednesday \u2013 102 votes to 13 \u2013 before progressing to the Senate. <\/p>\n More than 100 submissions were made and \u201calmost all submitters and witnesses expressed grave concerns that a bill of such import was not afforded sufficient time for thorough inquiry and report,\u201d the committee said in its report. <\/p>\n However, the committee recommended that the bill be passed with some changes, including prohibiting the use of government documents, such as passports, to verify users\u2019 age. <\/p>\n In their submissions, tech companies raised issues with the law, pointing to arguments from opponents about privacy risks and the dangers for children who circumvent the ban. <\/p>\n Snap Inc., whose messaging app Snapchat is popular with children, said \u201cdevice-level age verification\u201d was the \u201cbest available option.\u201d <\/p>\n X, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, said the platform was \u201cnot widely used by minors\u201d but expressed concern about the law\u2019s impact on their freedom of expression. <\/p>\n Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, said it had steadily invested in tools to make the platform safer, and \u201cstrongly\u201d recommended that the government wait for the results of age assurance trials, which are expected next year. <\/p>\n Meta\u2019s submission said that excluding YouTube and online gaming from the ban was \u201cfatal\u201d to its purpose, because they offer \u201csimilar benefits and risks\u201d as other platforms subject to the ban. <\/p>\n Despite those objections, surveys suggest Australians back the law. <\/p>\n A poll by YouGov conducted this month showed that 77% of Australians support the under-16 ban. The survey was conducted in the second half of this month and sought the views of 1,515 people with a margin of error of 3.2%. <\/p>\n Now the law has passed, consultation is expected to take place before the government sets a switch-off date. After that, all children under 16 with accounts on social media platforms subject to the ban will have them deactivated. <\/p>\n Parents and children won\u2019t be penalized for flouting the ban, but companies will need to show that they\u2019ve taken reasonable steps to keep under-age users off. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Australia\u2019s parliament has passed a world-first law banning social media for children under 16, putting tech companies on notice to tighten security before a cut-off date that\u2019s yet to be set. The Senate approved the social media ban late on Thursday, the last sitting day of the year, following months of intense public debate and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/republicanstradetoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} A rushed process<\/h2>\n