Australia proposes to ban children from social networks / Will it work?

2024-11-21 07:57:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Australia has proposed banning social networks for children under the age of 16.

The laws, which were tabled in the lower house of parliament on Thursday, have been billed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as a world leader.

But while many parents have applauded the move, some experts have questioned whether children should or even can be banned from accessing social media and what the negative effects of doing so could be.

What is Australia proposing?

Albanese says the ban - which will cover platforms such as X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram - is about protecting children from the harms of social media.

"This is a global problem and we want young Australians to have a childhood. We want parents to have peace of mind," he said on Thursday.

The new legislation provides a framework for the ban. But the 17-page document, which is expected to go to the Senate next week, is short on details.

Instead, it will be up to the national internet regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, to determine how to implement and enforce the rules, which will not come into force for at least 12 months after the legislation is passed.

According to the bill, the ban would apply to all children under 16 and that there would be no exceptions for existing users or those with parental consent.

Tech companies will face fines of up to A$50m ($32.5m; £25.7m) if they don't comply, but there will be exemptions for platforms that are able to create "low-risk services" that are considered suitable for children. The criteria for this threshold has not yet been established.

Messaging services and gaming sites, however, will not be restricted, as will some sites that can be accessed without an account like YouTube, which has raised questions about how regulators will determine what is and isn't a social media platform in no time. moving landscape.

A group representing the interests of tech companies such as Meta, Snapchat and X in Australia has dismissed the ban as "a 20th-century response to 21st-century challenges".

Such legislation could push children into "dangerous and unregulated parts of the Internet," says Digital Industry Group Inc. - a fear also expressed by some experts.

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has acknowledged the mammoth task her office will face in implementing the ban, noting that "technological change will always outpace politics".

"It's always going to be fluid, and that's why regulators like eSafety have to be nimble," she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

But Ms Inman Grant has also raised concerns about the central idea behind the government's policy, which is that there is a causal link between social media and declining mental health.

“I would say the evidence base is not at all strong,” she said, pointing to research from her office that found some of the most vulnerable groups, such as LGBTQ+ or First Nations teens, “feel more online than they do in the real world."

That's a sentiment echoed by Lucas Lane, 15, who runs an online business selling nail polish to boys. "This [ban] destroys my friendships and my ability to make people feel wanted," the Perth teenager told the BBC.

Ms Inman Grant would prefer to see tech companies clean up their platforms, as well as more investment in education tools to help young people stay safe online. She uses the analogy of teaching children to swim, rather than banning them from the water.

"We don't fence the ocean... but we create protected swimming environments that provide safeguards and teach important lessons from a young age," she told parliament earlier this year./ CNA