Yesterday, the Australian government introduced legislation in
Parliament that would ban children under 16 from accessing social media
platforms. The claim is the bill is to protect young people from the
negative impacts of excessive social media use, including mental health
concerns, body image issues and exposure to harmful content. But this is
the excuse, not the motive.
The proposed law is an amendment to Australia’s Online Safety Act.
It sets a minimum age limit of 16 for accessing social media
platforms. If passed, the law would outline some of the toughest
controls so far on social media platforms imposed by a country.
The
obvious problem with such a bill, without seeing any details, is what’s
to stop the Government from expanding the law into other areas?
Nothing. As Freezenet explains a very familiar maxim that is well known
among those who work for the Government, “Once you have a hammer,
everything looks like a nail.”
Until the bill was introduced
into parliament, details of how the ban would actually work had been
scarce. “Today’s bill provides a more complete picture. But many
ambiguities – and problems – still remain,” The Conversation noted.
Under
the proposed law, social media companies will be required to
demonstrate they are taking “reasonable steps” to prevent access for
under-16s. Penalties will be imposed on platforms that fail to comply.
The eSafety Commissioner will be responsible for enforcing the new laws
and monitoring compliance. The bill proposes a fine of up to AU$50 million on social media platforms if they fail to uphold the ban.
Interestingly,
platforms which are most likely to be used by children without adult
supervision are exempt. According to The Conversation the bill
“includes an exclusion framework that exempts messaging apps … online
gaming platforms and services with the ‘primary purpose of supporting
the health and education of end-users’.” Some platforms that will be
exempt include Google-owned YouTube, Google Classroom, Meta’s WhatsApp
and Headspace, a non-profit organisation for youth mental health established by the Australian Government in 2006.
Additionally,
“the bill won’t stop people under 16 from watching videos on YouTube or
seeing content on Facebook – it is primarily designed to stop them from
making an account.”...<<<Read More>>>...
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