The Australian government has proposed new legislation that bans children under 16 from using social media platforms. While the government is preparing to move forward with the new plan, some major tech firms have raised their voices against it, urging the government to delay the bill for further investigations.
According to the proposed legislation, Australian children under the age of 16 can no longer create accounts on social platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Reddit. As highlighted by Bloomberg, the underage children can"t even bypass the ban with parental permission. Social platforms are obligated to apply the restriction, while any violation could lead to fines of up to A$50 million ($32.5 million) for the platform.
Now, Google, Meta, X, and TikTok have submitted their concerns to the Australian Senate, calling for a delay in passing the legislation to better understand its potential impact on children.
Google and Meta argued that the government should wait for the results of the age verification trial as any potential ban "overlooks the practical reality of age assurance technology." As noted in Meta"s submission, "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."
Moreover, X"s submission described the bill as "vague," adding, "There is no evidence that banning young people from social media will work, and to make it law in the form proposed is highly problematic." Elon Musk also reacted to the proposed legislation, saying it "Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians."
However, there are numerous unclear aspects of the proposed bill. Crucially, the government has not yet detailed the workings of the age verification process. In the midst of this uncertainty, Australian Communication Minister Michelle Rowland has stated that the process does not necessitate children to upload their identification documents. This raises the question: how will platforms determine if a user is under 16? No one actually knows!