Social media only from 16: Law in Australia to be passed quickly

In Australia, decisive discussions have begun about a planned law that would ban children and young people under the age of 16 from using social networks. The governing coalition is arguing for the law to be passed this week, after the plans were only firmed up at the beginning of the month. Before the weekend, influential US billionaire Elon Musk also intervened, claiming the plans looked like a backdoor to control access to the internet for everyone in Australia. Finance Minister Jim Chalmers has denied this, asserting that it is "no great surprise" to his government that Musk is not very happy with the plan. But that doesn't worry him, after all, it's about protecting children.

Sharp criticism of IT companies

The proposal presented at the beginning of November stipulates that children should be prohibited from using social networks without exception. Even permission from parents or guardians would not change this. According to the news agency AP, this would affect the short message service X (from Elon Musk), TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit and Instagram. YouTube could also be affected by the ban under certain circumstances. The law is to be discussed in parliament this week and passed on Thursday. However, while there was initially broad support for it, including among the opposition, the wind may have changed recently. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, concerns have recently grown that this is actually a first step towards stricter control of the internet. If the bill is passed, the law could come into force in a year's time.

During the consultations on Monday, the head of a lobby group for large IT companies called for more time, reports AP. Parliament is expected to pass a law that it does not know how it works, she criticized. Among other things, more than 30 million euros in fines are planned for providers who systematically fail to deny children access. The lobbyist was questioned intensively, the news agency continues, and the veracity of some of her claims was questioned. For example, one MP wanted to know how his ten-year-old stepson could have managed to have accounts on Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube since he was eight years old. Nominally, the minimum age there is 13. The answer was that the industry needs to improve in this area.

(mho)