SYDNEY: Australia on Thursday passed into law a social media ban for children aged under 16 after an emotive debate that gripped the nation, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech.
The law forces tech giants from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta (META), to TikTok to stop minors logging in or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million).
A trial of methods to enforce it will start in January with the ban to take effect in a year.
The “Social Media Minimum Age” bill sets Australia up as a test case for a growing number of governments which have legislated or said they plan to legislate an age restriction on social media amid concern about its mental health impact on young people.
Countries including France and some US states have passed laws to restrict access for minors without a parent’s permission, but the Australian ban is absolute.
A full under-14s ban in Florida is being challenged in court on free speech grounds.
Getting the law passed after a marathon last day of Australia’s parliamentary year marks a political win for centre-left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who goes to an election in 2025 amid sagging opinion polls.
The ban faced opposition from privacy advocates and some child rights groups, but 77% of the population wanted it, according to latest polls.
Against the backdrop of a parliamentary inquiry through 2024 which heard evidence from parents of children who had self-harmed due to social media bullying, domestic media backed the ban led by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, the country’s biggest newspaper publisher, with a campaign called “Let Them Be Kids”.
The ban could however strain Australia’s relationship with key ally the United States, where X owner Elon Musk, a central figure in the administration of president-elect Donald Trump, said in a post this month it seemed a “backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians”.
It also builds on an existing mood of antagonism between Australia and mostly US-domiciled tech giants.
Australia was the first country to make social media platforms pay media outlets royalties for sharing their content and now plans to threaten them with fines for failing to stamp out scams.
Representatives of Meta, TikTok and X, which the government has said would be affected by the ban, were not immediately available for comment.
“It’s cart before horse,” said Sunita Bose, managing director of Digital Industry Group, which has most social media companies as members.
“We have the bill but we don’t have guidance from the Australian government around what are the right methods that a whole host of services subject to this law will need to employ,” Bose added, speaking to Reuters.
