US billionaire Elon Musk recently took a jab at Australia’s proposed law that would ban social media for children under 16.
As per Reuters, this law also proposes fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million) on companies for systemic violations.
Musk, who owned X (formerly Twitter) replied late on Thursday to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's post on X about the bill, “Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians.”
Australia’s center-left government introduced the bill in the parliament on Thursday, which aims to implement an age-verification system to enforce a social media age limit.
This would represent one of the strictest controls ever introduced by any country.
Musk has had previous clashes with Australia’s center-left labor government over its social media policies. He even labelled them “fascists” in response to their misinformation law.
Although, several countries have pledged to limit social media use among children through legislation, Australia’s policy could become one of the most strictest, with no exceptions for parental consent or pre-existing accounts.
Last year, France proposed a ban on social media for those under 15, though with parental consent allowed.
In contrast, the US has long required tech companies to get parental consent before accessing dat from children under 13.
