Children under 16 in Australia will be soon banned from social media platforms as the country passes landmark legislation.
According to Sky News, the day after the member of the parliament passed the bill with an overwhelming majority of 102 votes to 13 the Australian senators also passed the world's first-ever social media ban for under-16s.
Under the law social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, and X would be legally responsible for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (£25m) if they failed to systematically stop underage children from creating accounts.
The social media companies will have a year to work and figure out how to implement the ban before the fines kick in as the legislation will come into force a year later in November 2025.
Meanwhile, the Digital Industry Group Inc. managing director Sunita Bose argued, “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.”
Furthermore, although the Aussie House of Representatives has yet to approve the amendments made by the Senate, that is just formality, as the government and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have already announced that they will pass the bill.
