Australia sets clear boundaries for social media

Australia is taking an offensive approach with a new legislative proposal to restrict children's access to social media. The country's center-left government has introduced a bill that prohibits the use of social media by children under 16. Platforms that violate this face significant penalties of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars. To ensure compliance with the ban, Australia plans an age verification system that may use biometric data or government IDs. This measure is among the strongest controls globally, allowing no exceptions through parental consent nor for existing accounts. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese emphasizes the reformative nature of the initiative. Although some teenagers might find loopholes, a clear signal should be sent to social networks to act more responsibly. The bill is supported by the opposition Liberal Party, while independents and the Greens demand further details. Children would still have access to online services such as messaging, gaming, and educational platforms, including the youth health platform Headspace and Alphabet's Google Classroom and YouTube. The Labor government's argument focuses on the dangers of excessive social media consumption for children's physical and mental health. In particular, girls might be endangered by negative body portrayals and boys by misogynistic content. Many countries have already taken similar measures to regulate children's media consumption. France plans a ban for those under 15 but allows exceptions with parental consent. The USA has required technology companies to obtain parental consent for data processing for under-13s for decades. Australia's Communications Minister Michelle Rowland highlights that many youths have already been exposed to extremely harmful content. Thus, the responsibility lies with the legislation to hold social media providers accountable. To ensure privacy protection, the law requires that collected information be destroyed once its purpose has been fulfilled.