SYDNEY: Australian lawmakers moved a step closer on Wednesday to banning under-16s from social media platforms, threatening companies that fail to comply with multimillion-dollar fines.
The landmark legislation was passed by the Lower House of Parliament on Wednesday and is now set to be debated in the Senate.
The new rules will mean the likes of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat will have to take “reasonable steps” to prevent young teenagers from having accounts.
Social media firms — which could face fines of up to Aus$50 million (US$32.5 million) for failing to comply — have described the rules as “vague”, “problematic” and “hasty”.
Centre-left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, eyeing an election early next year, has enthusiastically backed the ban and rallied Australian parents to get behind it. In the run-up to Wednesday’s vote, he described social media as “a platform for peer pressure, a driver of anxiety, a vehicle for fraudsters and, worst of all, a tool for online predators.” painted on
He wanted young Australians, he said, to “turn off their phones on footy and cricket fields, tennis and netball courts, swimming pools”.
This ban on paper is one of the strictest bans in the world.
However, the current legislation provides almost no details on how the laws will be implemented. It will take at least 12 months for regulators to work out the details and implement the ban.
Many experts doubt that the ban can be implemented in any meaningful way, pointing out that many of the age Restrictions can be easily removed.
The late amendments expressly prevent social media firms from requiring new users to present a government-issued ID to prove their age.