The Australian government has committed to having a revolutionary bill that will ban children below 16 from using social media platforms. According to the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, this was aimed at shielding children from the rising psycho-social and content-specific dangers often encountered when online.
He claimed that this fell in line with the feelings of many Australian parents, who were increasingly concerned about the safety of their children online. Albanese has said that this new law will be brought to parliament next week. He claimed the government’s commitment is strong support for families.
The new law will make social media liable in the prevention of creating accounts amongst children under 16 years old. This would not be exemptionary right to minors, no individual user would receive punishments; instead, the eSafety Commissioner of Australia would enforce the new laws. If passed, the legislation would be effective a year from now and under a formal review after it is implemented.
Proposals to ban certain forms of speech to protect children have been extremely controversial. Dissention in opinion has also arisen from the experts and child advocacy groups. The Australian Child Rights Taskforce, being a huge advocacy group, depicted the legislation as overly restrictive.
The Taskforce, in an open letter signed by some academics and civil society groups, appealed to the government to introduce separate safety standards for social media instead of a total ban. They quoted the UN’s recommendations, stating that children should be given the chance to interact with digital services in secure and wholesome conditions, but not outlawed.
The grassroot movement, for instance, 36Months has garnered 125,000 plus signatures indicating that children under the age of 16 are mentally underdeveloped, hence they are not able to safely navigate through the portals of social media. They go ahead to state that most social media activities will lead to mental health among the youngsters.
He argued that even those who propose a more inclusive educational approach have too few ideas because tech companies hold too much power, and such a move would be insufficient. They argued how platforms shape user behavior through algorithms, which can be particularly dangerous for the young and vulnerable, and that banning is the best option at the moment.
The new social media regulation measures proposed by Australia, in case they are passed, would be the toughest in the world. The plans would present a very strong precedent in this world debate over youth and digital safety.
