Australia passes social media ban for children under 16

Australia passed a law on Thursday to ban social media for children aged under 16 after days of heated debate, setting a standard for other countries to follow in a global push to curb the power of Big Tech.

The law, expected to take effect in November 2025, sets some of the toughest social media controls in the world and will force platforms to take reasonable steps to ensure age-verification protections are in place.

After a parliamentary session that went into the night, the country’s Senate, or upper house of parliament, voted to pass the law after the centre-left Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese won support from the conservative opposition.

The Senate’s approval for the law is the final legislative hurdle after the lower house, or House of Representatives, passed the bill on Wednesday.

Albanese, trying to lift his approval ratings ahead of an election expected in May, had argued that social media posed risks to the physical and mental health of children and is looking for support from parents.

Australia plans to trial an age-verification system that may include biometrics or government identification to enforce the ban. The trial will run for several months and its findings would be reviewed by mid-2025.

Under the law, companies could be fined up to A$49.5 million ($32 million) for breaches.

In submissions to parliament, Alphabet’s Google and Meta  said the ban should be delayed until the age-verification trial finishes, expected in mid-2025. Bytedance’s TikTok said the bill needed more consultation, while Elon Musk’s X argued the proposed law might hurt children’s human rights.

A Senate committee backed the bill this week, but also inserted a condition that social media platforms should not force users to submit personal data such as passport and other digital identification to prove their age.

Source: Reuters
--Agencies