Tech companies and social networks will have the responsibility to ensure that users are of the required age – under penalty of fines -, underlined Mr. Albanese, rather than parents who “are worried about ink for the safety of their children online.
Voice messages: are they there to make our lives easier or to ruin our lives?
“The responsibility will not fall on parents or young people. There will be no sanctions for users,” he clarified.
An earlier proposal to introduce an age limit for social media had received widespread support across Australia’s political spectrum.
The platforms will benefit from a period of one year to prepare.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, said it would enforce “any age restrictions” the Australian government “wishes to introduce”.
But Antigone Davis, head of global security at the tech giant, said Australia should think carefully about how these restrictions will be implemented.
Mr. Albanese pointed out that social media algorithms presented inappropriate content to children and adolescents.
“I have things showing up on my (phone) that I don’t want to see. (Imagine) a vulnerable 14-year-old child,” the head of government said.
“Young women are seeing images of specific body types that have a real impact,” he added.
Experts, however, have cast doubt on the technical feasibility of such a measure.
Iphone and AI: Europe left behind?
“At the forefront”
“We already know that current age verification methods are unreliable, too easy to circumvent, or pose risks to users’ privacy,” observed Toby Murray, a researcher at the University of Melbourne.
In September, Canberra introduced a bill aimed at combating misinformation.
The text notably plans to impose fines of up to 5% of their annual turnover on technology giants in the event of non-compliance with their obligations in the fight against disinformation.
Elon Musk’s social network, X, is also engaged in a legal battle with the Australian internet regulator over its moderation of violent publications.
The minimum age measure on social networks is “truly at the cutting edge in the world”, welcomed for her part the Minister of Communications Michelle Rowland, according to whom the platforms “have not been up to par”.
“Social media companies have been informed” and financial penalties will be imposed on them if they fail to meet their obligations, she said Wednesday during a press briefing.
Several countries and territories have decided to impose a minimum age to access the platforms.
In the US state of Florida, a law is due to come into force in January to prohibit the opening of an account to those under 14 years old. Spain passed a law in June banning access for under-16s.
In these two cases, however, the method of age verification has not yet been determined.
In France, a law passed in 2023 which established a “digital majority” at 15 years of age has not yet come into force, pending a response from the European Commission on its compliance with European law. Emmanuel Macron even spoke out in favor of banning the telephone “before the age of 11”.
China, which has restricted access for minors since 2021, requires identification via an identity document. Those under 14 cannot spend more than 40 minutes a day on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, and online gaming time for children and adolescents is limited.
