As Canberra prepares to enact a massive new social media law that has sparked concerns from young people and advocates, Meta will restrict access to Australians under the age of 16 starting on December 4.
Before the new Australian social media ban on users under 16 goes into effect on December 10, the US tech giant announced it would start removing teenagers and children from its platforms.
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Even though critics claim the changes have been rushed through without considering issues relating to privacy, access to information, and the effects on young people’s mental health, the Australian government is preparing to enforce the law with fines of up to 49.5 million Australian Dollars (US $ 32 million) for social media companies.
According to a statement from Meta, “from today, it will be notifying Australian users who are between the ages of 13 and 15 that they will lose access to Facebook, Threads, and Instagram.”
Beginning on December 4, Meta plans to start erasing new under-16 accounts and revoking existing access, with the goal of eliminating all known under-16s by December 10.
According to government statistics, there are roughly 350 000 Instagram users between the ages of 13 and 15 in Australia and about 150 000 Facebook accounts.
Immediately, Meta has begun to warn impacted users that they will soon be locked out.
A message sent to users that Meta considers to be under 16 reads, “Soon, you’ll no longer be able to use Facebook and your profile won’t be visible to you or others.”
“We’ll let you know that you can start using Facebook once more when you turn 16.”
The Australian government has stated that the ban will also apply to other social media platforms, including Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, and YouTube.
Ban the phrase “does not add up”
Leo Puglisi, 18, the founder of youth news service 6 News Australia, told an Australian senate inquiry that young people “deeply care” about the ban and its potential consequences.
According to Puglisi, many people who watch 6 News are young people who find their content on social media.
He addressed the inquiry, “I believe young people have the right to be informed.”
A 15-year-old cannot access any news or political sources on social media, according to “we’re saying.” Simply put, I don’t believe that makes sense.
Senator David Shoebridge of Australia expressed concern that “approximate 2.4 million young people will be banned from social media accounts just as the school holidays begin.”
In a recent post on X, Shoebridge wrote, “I’m deeply concerned about the effects on the ban, including on young people’s mental health and privacy.”
Electronic Frontiers Australia’s John Pane also testified before a senator in court that the new legislation adds new risks while addressing other issues.
Pane says the ban poses a new “far greater, systemic risk” from “potential mass collection of children’s and adults’ identity data,” despite the fact that it attempts to address the possibility of young people viewing “unsuitable content” online.
According to Pane, this will increase “the data stores and financial positions of big tech and big data, and significantly escalating cyber risk.”
Social media companies are planning to require some users to verify their age by recording videos of themselves because the majority of Australians under the age of 16 lack official government ID.
Similar bans are being considered in other nations.
As global regulators grapple with the conflicting risks and advantages of social media, there is a lot of interest in whether Australia’s broad restrictions can work.
A similar bill to restrict children’s use of social media by New Zealand’s prime minister, Christopher Luxon, is on the table.
Indonesia has also stated that it is drafting legislation to protect young people from “physical, mental, or moral perils.”
The Dutch government has advised parents to admonish children under the age of 15 from using social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat in Europe.
Source: Aljazeera
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