“Historical reform”: Australia seeks to impose a minimum age of 16 to use social networks

Published:

Nov 21, 2024 19:01 GMT

“We want Australian children to have a childhood,” commented the country’s prime minister, after ensuring that the networks “are causing social harm.”

The Government of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese presented to Parliament this Thursday “world-first legislation” that seeks to impose a minimum age of 16 to use social networks.

The initiative foresees that social media platforms – such as Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram and X, among others – adopt “reasonable measures” to prevent minors under 16 years of age from having accountswhich will “provide greater protections for young Australians during critical stages of their development,” according to the release official.

At the same time, the bill provides that Australians under 16 years of age continue to have access to messaging and online gamesas well as services related to the health and educationsuch as Headspace, Kids Helpline, Google Classroom and YouTube.

It details that the bill was developed based on “extensive feedback from young Australians, parents, experts, industry, community organizations and state and territory governments.”

Childhood without social networks

“We know that social media is doing social harm,” Albanese said. “We want Australian children to have a childhood and we want parents to know that the Government is on their side,” he added.

Furthermore, the prime minister called the bill “a historic reform“and added that it is known that “some young people will find alternative solutions”, but it is “a message to social media companies to improve their practices.”

Thus, the responsibility for ensuring that new online protections are implemented is placed not on parents or young people, but on social media platforms. In case of systemic violations, companies would face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (more than 32 million US dollars).

This Thursday, the Senate sent provisions of the bill to the Communications and Environmental Legislation Committee for report by November 26, 2024. The deadline to submit proposals ends this Friday.