On Tuesday, Google and Facebook owner Meta Platform urged the Australian government to halt their decision to ban the social media to children under the age of 16. They said there is more time needed to evaluate the current impact. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left government wans to pass this bill which is considered as the toughest decision ever made by a country into law by the end of their parliamentary year to control children’s social media use.
The bill was presented in the parliament last week and was open for opinions for only one day in which Google and Meta said that the government should wait for the results of the age-verification trial before going ahead with the bill. The age-verification system might include biometrics or government identification to enforce the social media age limitation.
Meta stated that; “In the absence of such results, neither industry nor Australians will understand the nature or scale of age assurance required by the bill, not the impact of such measures on Australians, in its present form, the bill is inconsistent and ineffective.”
The law would enforce the social media platforms to take measurable steps to ensure the age-verification protections are in place otherwise the companies would be fined up to AS$49.5 million ($32 million) for systemic breaches. This measure is imposed by the government on the social media platforms and not the parents of their children.
According to the sources of Leaders Asia, opposition Liberal party is expected to support this bill however; a few of the lawmakers accuse that the government is taking rushed steps through the entire process to be completed in a week. However, a Senate committee that is responsible for communication legislations is supposed to deliver a report on Tuesday.
Bytedance’s TikTok stated that the bill needs clarity and it has significant concerns with the government planning to pass this bill with proper consultation with experts in the field, social media platforms and mental health organizations. TikTok said that, “Where novel policy is put forward, it’s important that legislation is drafted in a thorough and considered way, to ensure it is able to achieve its stated intention. This has not been the case with respect to this bill.”
Elon Musk also shared concerns regarding the bill on X that it will negatively impact the human rights of children and young adults including their right to freedom of expression and access to information. As the sources of Leaders Asia suggest, he attacked the Australian government saying that the bill seems to be a backdoor way to control children’s access to the internet.
