Australia’s ban on under-16s using social media has caused an international stir after the world-first legislation made it through the Senate on Thursday.
The bill, passed during the final day of Parliament of the year, is set to come into effect by the end of 2025, and will require platforms including TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, to block children and younger teenagers from accessing their services.
Individual companies face $50million fines for failing to comply.
Internationally, news sites including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Independent in Britain, and Russia‘s state-run TASS agency covered the law’s passage.
Zurich-based newspaper Blick excitedly ran a response from Communications Minister Michelle Rowland on Friday following the bill’s passing.
‘The land of kangaroos has just passed a bill to fine social networks that tolerate accounts opened by children to the tune of millions. Blick asked the Australian Minister of Communications how and why it was urgent to act. And Michelle Rowland answered us!’ the article read.
”This reform is about protecting young people and reassuring parents that we are on their side,’ insists the honourable politician, according to the Australian denomination.’
The UK’s technology secretary, Peter Kyle, last week told the BBC the Australian motion could sway him to lobby for similar laws in Britain.
International legislators and media outlets keenly watched Australia’s social media ban pass the senate on Thursday
The legislation attracted attention from media in major world powers including India, the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom (Narendra Modi pictured above)
‘I’m in touch with the legislators in Australia,’ Mr Kyle said. ‘As you’d expect, I’m really interested in what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and the evidence they’re basing it on.’
Though Britain has no current plans for Australia-style restrictions.
The UK’s Independent hoped Australia would act the guinea pig for world legislators.
‘[It] sets Australia up as a test case for a growing number of governments which have legislated, or have said they plan to legislate, an age restriction on social media,’ their article read.
Russia’s TASS agency noted the Kremlin had already banned Instagram and Facebook which have been ‘recognised as extremist’.
Some outlets, however, emphasised critics’ concerns. Major Hindi paper Amar Ujala, with a circulation of over 1.5million, cited Greens Senator David Shoebridge in their article.
The paper noted Mr Shoebridge’s warning ‘children from rural areas and the LGBTQ community’ wouldn’t benefit from the plan.
‘They hoped the government would conduct another study on it, which would tell how children can be kept out of social media in the right way,’ the paper read.
Spanish paper El Mundo echoed concerns the ‘technology companies recognise that they don’t yet know how to verify the age of their users’.
The New York Times reported on the ‘sweeping’ ban, and wrote that the finer details of the plan appeared foggy.
‘Australia has imposed a sweeping ban on social media for children under 16, one of the world’s most comprehensive measures aimed at safeguarding young people from potential hazards online. But many details were still unclear, such as how it will be enforced and what platforms will be covered.’
The Wall Street Journal labelled it ‘one of the world’s most restrictive social media bans’.
The Drudge Report, a US site with 640million views a month, had ‘Australia outlaws socials for minors’ as their lead story on Friday.
International media reported on the landmark bill, with Russia’s state-run TASS agency supporting restrictions on Meta-owned platforms
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland vowed the bill would support parents concerned about ‘the harms to children’
Press agency Reuters interviewed youth across Europe about the legislation and were met with a variety of responses.
‘I would not like this to happen in Spain,’ a 12-year-old Spanish student said. ‘They should have done a demonstration because this is very crazy.’
A 20-year-old waiter in Rome disagreed.
‘It’s an initiative that makes a lot of sense in Australia and one that we should bring here to save the next generation,’ he said.
Elon Musk previously claimed the law was unnecessarily restrictive on his own social media site X.
‘Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians,’ he wrote.
Tech giants Google and Meta begged the government to delay the legislation to allow their platforms to better assess its potential implications.
TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance also urged for further consultation.
The federal Coalition supported the policy but argued Labor’s legislation was rushed.
The Albanese government said the new legislation would require the implementation of age-verification technology – the details of which have been vague so far.
The bill placed the onus of verification on social media companies themselves. The age-limit will be the highest of any international regulation and won’t allow for exemptions – including from parents.
However, Australians who skirt the rules will face no penalties under the legislation.
Last year, France announced social media companies would have to verify the age of their users, and those under 15 years of age looking to use apps like TikTok would have to obtain parental consent.
However, local media say technical challenges mean the law is not yet enforced.
South Korea implemented laws in 2011 targeting video game addiction preventing those under 16 from playing online games between 10.30pm and 6.00am.The law was later repealed.
China’s Cyberspace Administration announced similar laws in 2022 using identity verification and facial recognition technology to restrict Chinese youth’s access to video games.
The Norwegian government last month proposed raising the age at which children can consent to the terms required to use social media to 15 years from 13 years currently, although parents would still be permitted to sign off on their behalf if they are under the age limit.
The centre-left government also said it had begun work on legislation to set an absolute legal minimum age limit for social media use, but it was not immediately clear when a law mandating this may reach parliament.
In Germany, minors between the ages of 13 and 16 are allowed to use social media only if their parents give consent.
In 2018, Belgium enacted a law requiring children to be at least 13 to create a social media account without parental permission.
The Netherlands doesn’t have any laws regarding a minimum age for social media use, but the government banned mobile devices in classrooms from January 2024 to reduce distractions. Exceptions apply for digital lessons, medical needs or disabilities.
Children under 14 in Italy need parental consent to sign up for social media accounts, while no consent is required from that age upwards.
‘This is a global problem and we want young Australians essentially to have a childhood,’ Prime Minister Albanese said last week.
‘We want parents to have peace of mind.’
