{"id":423985,"date":"2024-11-29T08:32:32","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T08:32:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=423985"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Australia-passes-landmark-social-media-ban-for-under-16s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Australia-passes-landmark-social-media-ban-for-under-16s\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia passes landmark social media ban for under 16s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian lawmakers passed landmark rules to ban under 16s from social media on Thursday, approving one of the world’s toughest crackdowns on popular sites like Facebook, Instagram and X.<\/p>\n

The legislation ordering social media firms to take “reasonable steps” to prevent young teens from having accounts was passed in the Senate with 34 votes in favour and 19 against.<\/p>\n

The firms — who face fines of up to Aus$50 million (US$32.5 million) for failing to comply — have described the laws as “vague”, “problematic” and “rushed”.<\/p>\n

The new rules will now return to the lower house — where lawmakers already backed the bill on Wednesday — for one final approval before it is all but certain to become law.<\/p>\n

Speaking during the Senate debate, Greens politician Sarah Hanson-Young\u00a0said the ban would not “make social media safer for young people”.<\/p>\n

She said it was “devastating” that young people were “finding themselves addicted to these dangerous algorithms”.<\/p>\n

Centre-left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, eyeing an election early next year, has enthusiastically championed the new rules and rallied Aussie parents to get behind it.<\/p>\n

In the run up to the vote, he painted social media as “a platform for peer pressure, a driver of anxiety, a vehicle for scammers and, worst of all, a tool for online predators”.<\/p>\n

He wanted young Australians “off their phones and onto the footy and cricket field, the tennis and netball courts, in the swimming pool”.<\/p>\n

But young social media users, like 12-year-old Angus Lydom, are not impressed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’d like to keep using it. And it’ll be a weird feeling to not have it, and be able to talk to all my friends at home,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n

Many are likely to try to find ways around it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’ll find a way. And so will all my other friends” Lydom said.<\/p>\n

Similarly, 11-year-old Elsie Arkinstall said there was still a place for social media, particularly for children wanting to watch tutorials about baking or art.<\/p>\n

“Kids and teens should be able to explore those techniques because you can’t learn all those things from books,” she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

– Other countries weigh restrictions –<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

On paper, the ban is one of the strictest in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the current legislation offers almost no details on how the rules will be enforced — prompting concern among experts that it will simply be a symbolic piece of legislation that is unenforceable.<\/p>\n

It will be at least 12 months before the details are worked out by regulators and the ban comes into effect.<\/p>\n

Some companies will likely be granted exemptions, such as WhatsApp and YouTube, which teenagers may need to use for recreation, school work or other reasons.<\/p>\n

Late amendments were introduced to ensure government-issued digital ID cannot be used as a means of age verification.<\/p>\n

Social media expert Susan Grantham told AFP that digital literacy programmes that teach children to think “critically” about what they see online should be adopted — similar to a model used in Finland.<\/p>\n

The legislation will be closely monitored by other countries, with many weighing whether to implement similar bans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lawmakers from Spain to Florida have proposed social media bans for young teens, although none of the measures have been implemented yet.<\/p>\n

China has restricted access for minors since 2021, with under-14s not allowed to spend more than 40 minutes a day on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.<\/p>\n

Online gaming time for children is also limited in China.<\/p>\n

lec\/arb\/rsc<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Students look at their phones in Australia, where the government has passed a law banning social media for those under 16<\/p>\n

-William WEST
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

The Australian legislation will be closely monitored by other countries, with many weighing whether to implement similar bans<\/p>\n

-William WEST
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

Chart showing how many minutes per day Australian teenagers spend on most popular social media sites\/apps, according to parental control app Qustodio.<\/p>\n

-Janis LATVELS
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australian lawmakers passed landmark rules to ban under 16s from social media on Thursday, approving…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23812],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-423985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423985\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}