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.
- The social media companies are the ones who are liable if they let underage kids in
- Maximum fines are under a million dollars. I assume that is per kid, but the bill has not been released yet
- They acknowledge that perfect enforcement is impossible. Still, imperfect enforcement might limit the harm
- 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
- The suggest age limit for access is the highest in the world
- As I said above, there are no exemptions
- 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.
- “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.
- France proposed banning kids under 15 from social media, but that proposal has a parental exemption
- 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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