Australia passes landmark social media ban for children under 16
Australia passes landmark social media ban for children under 16
The ban, among the toughest in the world, has broad public support but has been criticized by experts who say it could have unintended negative consequences.
Summary
Australia has passed a groundbreaking ban on social media use for children under 16, the strictest of its kind globally.
Platforms like X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Reddit have one year to implement the age limit, with fines up to AU$50M for non-compliance.
Supporters cite mental health concerns, while critics argue the ban risks isolation for marginalized youth, lacks proper research, and excludes harmful platforms like 4chan.
Privacy concerns surround proposed age-verification methods. Opponents, including parents, scholars, and tech companies, argue the legislation is rushed and poorly designed, potentially exacerbating existing issues.
An Australian Senate committee signed off on the legislation late Tuesday but said social media platforms should find “alternative methods for assuring age” rather than forcing users to submit personal information such as their passports or other digital identification.
Like? You think letting these same companies you see as a threat to kids to come up with their own verification method is a good plan? LOL
Edit - lost words somehow
Are you over 16? Click yes
How do you assure age without personal identification? It’s funny that they signed on the bill but only know how they don’t want to force it, without any ideas or alternatives. I got no love for Meta but I’m really wondering what can you possibly implement?
Oh and also, VPN. GG.
Read it again.
What it actually says is that SM sites can collect personal ID, but must provide an alternative.
At least you have words available to lose. I lost all my words already.
and excludes harmful platforms like 4chan.
Jesus Christ.
No block in Roblox either.
All my friends kids are playing Roblox and i'm trying to get everyone updated about Roblox.
The only concern they had until now, was the kids spending money for cosmetics.
4chan is not excluded.
The Communication minister can extend the requirement to any internet site at any time without parliamentary approval.
So your complaint is the bill doesn’t go far enough? It should ban more things?
I'm, generally, skeptical of the efficacy of any such ban. But if a ban is going to be in place, 4chan et co seem like they should be pretty high fucking priorities to close off to kids. It's like declaring a ban on beer for health reasons, but clarifying that unregulated backwoods moonshine a step away from wood alcohol is still 100% kosher.
This was a Rupert Murdoch campaign against Social Media called "let them be kids".
Wow, you’re saying that vile piece of shit did something good for once? Maybe he’s having regrets about the fraying social order.
Not only do I have concerns about privacy concerns of age-verification, I think the "ban until 16, then unrestricted" is a very bad policy. Yes, social media is harmful to kids, but frankly, it's harmful to everyone. If kids have no exposure to social media and no education on how to use it appropriately, it's just going to concentrate the issues to teens/young adults.
So… it’s harmful to everyone, especially kids, which is why we shouldn’t ban its use by kids?
And how exactly are they going to enforce this? Kids always find a way around … always.
Exactly this. When I was in school, we had these things called firewalls. And as a kid, I knew exactly how to get around said firewalls and access whatever online content I wanted. So what's going to stop the same thing from occurring on a national scale here? And with platforms like Fediverse and nostr, shit like this is completely unenforceable.
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Uploading ID to site.
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face scanning and continual monitoring, so if a person comes into view they must face scan. Under the law, its prohibited for children to watch prohibited sites even with their parents.
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Honestly, who gives a shit. Literally no one should be using these brain-rotting democracy destroying websites anyway. If you want your privacy get a life.
One way to implement this: https://chinwag.au/verification/
The article says that the Australian government is leaving it to the social media platforms to implement the age verification process themselves and that they can face fines if they don't. Assuming that a company has no physical servers running in Australia, is there any reason they need to pay any attention to this? Aside from their platform bring outright banned I suppose. I've had debates on lemmy about whether a website operates in other countries just because it is accessible or not. If a lemmy instance based outside of Australia fails to implement age verification, should they be worried about being fined? Will the majority of the fediverse(assuming the majority don't implement this) be banned in Australia?
Governments is burning money on these bans. Parent should be able to make these choices for their families. Maybe if workers could count on public education and have enough money and time off they would be able to.
Nonsense. This law will generate revenue as we fine the ever-living-shit out of social media websites until they can figure out how to get kids off their toxic platforms.
Everyone in this thread must be like 12 years old judging by these hysterical responses.
I work with young men on a daily basis and all I can say is: holy shit finally. You guys don’t understand what it’s like out there. 16 year olds are dumb as shit by default, so imagine what happens when you add Joe Rogan and Andrew Tate. Please. Imagine what it’s like to explain for the hundredth time why human trafficking is actually bad, and feminism isn’t evil, and so on. I just can’t imagine ANY FUCKING REASON that a child needs to be on a social media website of any kind, from twitch to twitter.
All of their content is public though, you don't need to verify your age to watch a Joe Rogan podcast.
They get pushed way harder than they should on nearly every platform
So now instead of getting their news from Facebook, they're getting it from Truth Social? Or some new fly by night social media platform even less reputable?
Surely that's a lot worse?