{"id":5777,"date":"2024-11-07T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T08:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/07\/australia-vows-to-ban-social-media-for-children-under-16\/"},"modified":"2024-11-07T08:00:26","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T08:00:26","slug":"australia-vows-to-ban-social-media-for-children-under-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/2024\/11\/07\/australia-vows-to-ban-social-media-for-children-under-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia vows to ban social media for children under 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s government has pledged to introduce what it described as \u201cworld-leading\u201d legislation to ban children under the age of 16 from social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial media is doing harm to our kids and I\u2019m calling time on it,\u201d Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spoken to thousands of parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles. They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online.\u201d<\/p>\n

The legislation will be introduced in the country\u2019s parliament during its final two weeks in session this year, beginning on 18 November.<\/p>\n

Mr Albanese said the age limit would take effect a year after the law is passed \u2013 with platforms including Facebook<\/strong>, Instagram<\/strong>, Elon Musk<\/strong>\u2018s X and Bytedance\u2019s TikTok<\/strong> using those 12 months to work on how to exclude Australian children under 16.<\/p>\n

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Alphabet\u2019s YouTube<\/strong> would likely also fall within the scope of the legislation, said Australia<\/strong>\u2018s communications minister Michelle Rowland.<\/p>\n

Platforms will be penalised for breaching the age limit, but underage children and their parents will not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access. The onus won\u2019t be on parents or young people,\u201d Mr Albanese said.<\/p>\n

There will be no exemptions for children who have parental consent, or who already have accounts.<\/p>\n

However, Mr Albanese said there would be exemptions in circumstances such as a need to continue access to educational services.<\/p>\n

Facebook and Instagram owner Meta<\/strong> said its platforms would respect any age limitations the government wants to introduce.<\/p>\n

Antigone Davis, head of safety at Meta, said: \u201cHowever, what\u2019s missing is a deeper discussion on how we implement protections, otherwise we risk making ourselves feel better like we have taken action, but teens and parents will not find themselves in a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stronger tools in app stores and operating systems for parents to control what apps their children can use would be a \u201csimple and effective solution\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n

The Digital Industry Group (DIGI), a representative body which includes Meta, TikTok, X and Alphabet\u2019s Google as members, said the measure could encourage children to explore darker, unregulated parts of the internet while cutting their access to support networks.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeeping young people safe online is a top priority\u2026 but the proposed ban for teenagers to access digital platforms is a 20th century response to 21st century challenges,\u201d said DIGI managing director Sunita Bose.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than blocking access through bans, we need to take a balanced approach to create age-appropriate spaces, build digital literacy and protect young people from online harm,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

More than 140 Australian and international academics with expertise in fields related to technology and child welfare signed an open letter to Mr Albanese last month opposing a social media age limit as \u201ctoo blunt an instrument to address risks effectively\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

This post appeared first on sky.com<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s government has pledged to introduce what it described as \u201cworld-leading\u201d legislation to ban children…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tech-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tradetrovex.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}