Certain platforms like WhatsApp and YouTube, which teenagers might need to do their homework, should be exempted.
AFP
It’s historic. On Thursday, the Australian Parliament adopted pioneering legislation banning access to social networks for those under 16, among the most restrictive in the world for platforms such as X, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook.
The text, which obtained the green light from both Houses of Parliament and bipartisan support, should soon require these platforms to take “reasonable measures” to prevent these adolescents from having an account. Failure to comply with this obligation will result in fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (30.7 million euros).
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday that the adoption of this law would do “less harm”. The offensive against sites like Facebook, Instagram and X will provide “better prospects and less harm for young Australians,” he told journalists.
“A tool for online predators”
The bill received the green light from the Australian Senate on Thursday, after that of the Lower House the day before, and its entry into force is beyond doubt. Center-left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is preparing for elections early next year, enthusiastically defended the new rules and rallied the support of many fathers and mothers.
Social media giants condemned this law on Friday, pointing out the risk that it would send them to dangerous alternative platforms. “It is entirely likely that the ban will lead young people to darker areas of the Internet where there are no general rules, security tools or protection,” noted a TikTok spokesperson in a statement Friday, expressing regret that the Australian government had ignored the advice of many experts.
Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for its part deplored the failure to take into account what the sector “already does to ensure age-appropriate experiences”, while ensuring that the law would be respected.
“I will find a way”
Young Australians are already saying they intend to circumvent this ban. “I will find a way, and my friends will do the same,” Angus Lydom, 12, told AFP. “I would like to continue using (social networks), it would be strange not to have them and not to be able to talk to my friends when I am at home,” he explains.
The same goes for Elsie Arkinstall, 11, who believes that social networks have their place even for children, to watch baking or art tutorials. “You can’t learn all this from books,” she says.
Really feasible?
On paper, the ban is one of the strictest in the world. But the exact contours of its application remain unclear. The text provides almost no details on its application methods so that some experts have expressed doubts about the technical feasibility of this ban and questioning its symbolic nature.
Tech companies will have at least a year to comply with the new obligation, time for Australian regulators to clarify the details relating to the application of the law. Certain platforms such as WhatsApp and YouTube, which adolescents may need to do their homework, should also be exempted.
The entry into force of this new legislation will be closely monitored abroad, with several countries also considering implementing similar restrictions.
While the Spanish government presented a draft bill in June to prohibit access to social networks for those under 16, China has restricted access for minors since 2021 and requires identification via a document. ‘identify.
In Switzerland, out of more than 13,200 people questioned as part of a “20 Minuten/Tamedia” survey, 78% believe that a legal minimum age should be decreed for the use of TikTok, Facebook or Instagram. Even more striking, the desire to ban such platforms to young people under 16 exceeds 74% in all age categories, ranging from 18 to over 65.
(afp)
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