Worried Your Kids Spend Too Much Time on Social Media? Move to Australia!

The good news for politicians is that kids under 16 can’t vote. They are about to propose a law that would **BAN** kids under 16 from social media. No exceptions. No “its okay if my parents say it is ok”. Gone! Bye-bye.

The Australian Prime Minister unveiled the world-leading plan to set a minimum age of 16 for social media access, including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X and even YouTube.

Interesting points.

1. The social media companies are the ones who are liable if they let underage kids in
2. Maximum fines are under a million dollars. I assume that is per kid, but the bill has not been released yet
3. They acknowledge that perfect enforcement is impossible. Still, imperfect enforcement might limit the harm
4. The government claims the platforms know how to distinguish a 15.5 year old kid from a 16.0 year old kid. Not sure that one is true. Or even possible
5. The suggest age limit for access is the highest in the world
6. As I said above, there are no exemptions
7. An industry lobbying group, the Digital Industry Group, said it would encourage young people to explore darker unregulated parts of the Internet while cutting their access to support networks. Possibly a stretch.
8. “Keeping young people safe online is a top priority … but the proposed ban for teenagers to access digital platforms is a 20th Century response to 21st Century challenges,”  I would say that if keeping kids safe is a top priority of Facebook, Twitter and others, they are failing miserably at a top priority.
9. France proposed banning kids under 15 from social media, but that proposal has a parental exemption
10. For a long time, the U.S.’s COPPA law requires parental permission for kids under 13 but it is not enforced very often.

It will certainly be interesting. Credit: CyberNews

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