Australia Becomes First Country To Ban Social Media For Under-16S With Landmark Law Oppn Says, 'Will Cut Off LGBTQI'

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Australia has become the first country to ban children under 16 from using social media, as the country's senate passed a law regarding the same, reported AP.

According to the report, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the legislation by 102 votes to 13 on Wednesday, and the Senate passed it 34 votes to 19.

The law passed by the Australian Senate on Thursday will now make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) if they fail to prevent children younger than 16 from holding accounts. The ban, however, does not include YouTube.

Though the House has yet to endorse opposition amendments made in the Senate, but since the government has already agreed, it will be just a formality.

With the law passed platforms will have one year to work out how to implement the ban before penalties are enforced.

As per details, the House is scheduled to pass the amendments on Friday.

Earlier on Tuesday, a YouGov poll released Tuesday found that 77 percent of Australians support the ban, up from 61 percent in August, reported NBC News.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had stated that the law is needed to protect young people from the 'harms' of social media, reported WION.

"This is a global problem and we want young Australians essentially to have a childhood. We want parents to have peace of mind," WION quoted PM Albanese as saying while introducing the bill to the lower house last week.

Meanwhile, Digital Industry Group Inc. said questions remain about the law's impact on children.

“The social media ban legislation has been released and passed within a week and, as a result, no one can confidently explain how it will work in practice – the community and platforms are in the dark about what exactly is required of them,” AP quoted DIGI managing director Sunita Bose as saying in a statement.

Minority Greens party's Senator David Shoebridge that the ban could dangerously isolate many children who used social media to find support.

“This policy will hurt vulnerable young people the most, especially in regional communities and especially the LGBTQI community , by cutting them off,” Shoebridge told the Senate.

Opposition Sen. Maria Kovacic said the bill was not radical but necessary.“The core focus of this legislation is simple: It demands that social media companies take reasonable steps to identify and remove underage users from their platforms,” Kovacic told the Senate.

“This is a responsibility these companies should have been fulfilling long ago, but for too long they have shirked these responsibilities in favor of profit,” she added.

Christopher Stone, executive director of Suicide Prevention Australia had said the legislation failed to consider positive aspects of social media in supporting young people's mental health and sense of connection.

“The government is running blindfolded into a brick wall by rushing this legislation. Young Australians deserve evidence-based policies, not decisions made in haste,” Stone said in a statement.

Last week, Elon Musk, the owner of X, even quoted the bill as 'a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians'.

Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said the legislation had been 'rushed'.

But defending the bill, the Australian PM said, "We all know technology moves fast and some people will try to find ways around these new laws but that is not a reason to ignore the responsibility that we have."

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