该法案目前得到了广泛的政治支持，若生效，各大社交公司将有一年的时间来研究如何实施年龄限制。其中，消息应用程序、在线游戏平台以及健康和教育等在线服务可能将被视为例外。① The Australian Department of Communications has submitted a bill prohibiting children under 16 from using social media, and offending platforms will face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars; ② The bill has received widespread political support in Australia. If legislation is successful, social media companies have a year to implement age limits; ③ Major social media companies around the world are watching and watching.
AFP, November 21 (Editor Malan) The Australian Department of Communications submitted a world-first bill on Thursday to ban children under 16 from using social media. If the platform company fails to implement the ban, it will face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (about 33 million US dollars).
Australian Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said that social platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, X, and Instagram all have made systematic mistakes in preventing children from holding accounts. The new law will clarify new values, and what determines how Australians grow up should not be determined by social media.
The bill has now received widespread political support. If it comes into effect, social networking companies will have a year to study how to implement the age limit. Among them, messaging apps, online gaming platforms, and online services such as health and education may be considered exceptions.
mixed reviews
Rowland stressed that nearly two-thirds of Australians aged 14 to 17 have viewed extremely harmful content online, including drug use, suicide or self-harm, and violent content. One in four people have been exposed to content promoting unsafe eating habits. For some Australian teenagers, social media is harmful.
She also added that 95% of Australian guardians see cybersecurity as one of the biggest challenges they face in their parenting process. This has prompted social media companies to take social responsibility and address threats on the platform.
Previously, Australia had followed the example of other countries in trying to restrict children's access to social media. For example, Norway stipulates that children under 13 are not allowed to use social media, but after a survey, it was found that 70% of 11-year-olds still use it.
Rowland said the new law shifts responsibility for ensuring that children don't use social media from parents or children to social media companies, which ultimately is to provide a safer and healthier online environment for young Australians.
As of now, world-renowned social media companies have been cautious about this. Meta, which operates Facebook and Instagram, and Musk's X all claim that they want companies that operate app stores such as Google or Apple to be responsible for age verification.
Tony Allen, CEO of the Age Verification Certification Program, said at the beginning of the week that the techniques being considered include age estimation and age estimation. The latter involves establishing a series of facts about individuals to prove that users have reached at least a certain age.
However, there are also people who have expressed concern about this. Digi managing director Sunita Bose believes mainstream digital platforms have taken strict measures to protect the safety of young people, and the ban may push young people into darker, less secure cyberspaces without safety fences.
He believes that the ban cannot ensure the safety of young children because it focuses on keeping young people away from online services rather than ensuring that they are in a safe environment when using the internet.
