As social media ban passes, Australian government is accused by Meta of failing to consider young people’s voices

The fallout of Australia’s decision to become the first country in the world to pass a social media ban for under-16s, continued on Friday.

The Guardian newspaper reported that Facebook and Instagram parent Meta, has accused the Australian government of rushing to introduce the under-16 social media ban without properly considering the evidence and voices of young people.

This week both houses of the Australia Parliament approved the bill, which began after the House of Representatives on Wednesday had overwhelmingly passed the bill, with 102 votes versus 13 against.

Social media ban

A day later and the Australian Senate also approved the bill with 34 votes for (19 against), and therefore the bill will soon become a world-first law.

The approval was unsurprising, given Australia’s states and territories had unanimously supported the ban, as did the main opposition party in Australia.

The Australian government had announced the “world leading legislation” earlier in November, to tackle the use of social media by children and young teenagers, despite the vocal opposition from the likes of Elon Musk, as well as an advocate for social media platforms.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the time said the new legislation would be similar to other laws such as restricting alcohol sales to those over 18 years.

At the moment, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and TikTok stipulates that children have to be at least 13 years old to use their platforms.

How to enforce

When the law is passed, social media platforms will be liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33m or £26m) for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts.

The platforms will have one year to work out how they could implement the ban before penalties are enforced.

Enforcing the ban may not be straight forward, as there are some amendments that are designed to protect privacy, but which could make it difficult for tech platforms to carry out appropriate age verification, given that some youngsters have publicly admitted to lying when asked by tech platforms about their age.

Social media platforms for example would not be allowed to compel users to provide government-issued identity documents including passports or driver’s licenses, nor could they demand digital identification through a government system.

Tech reaction

Social media platforms had asked for the vote to be delayed until at least June next year when a government-commissioned evaluation of age assurance technologies makes its report on how the ban could be enforced.

And some tech giants such as TikTok argue could push young people to “darker corners of the internet.”

Human rights groups and mental health advocates have also warned it may marginalise young Australians, the Guardian reported.

So far however most social media companies have said they will comply with the ban. But they have expressed uncertainty about how it would be enforced and concern about its potential impact.

“We are concerned about the process which rushed the legislation through while failing to properly consider the evidence, what industry already does to ensure age-appropriate experiences, and the voices of young people,” a Meta spokesperson was quoted by the Guardian as saying.

“The task now turns to ensuring there is productive consultation on all rules associated with the bill to ensure a technically feasible outcome that does not place an onerous burden on parents and teens and a commitment that rules will be consistently applied across all social apps used by teens.”

Others to follow?

Australia may not be the only country looking at enacting legislation to protect children and youngsters from social media.

Last week the British technology secretary Peter Kyle admitted that United Kingdom may be about to follow the lead of Australia, when he told the BBC that a possible ban on social media for under-16s in the UK was “on the table”.

“I am totally opened-minded and I certainly keep everything on the table as we go forward,” Kyle said. “But what I do want to do is make sure that any decisions I take are on the back of solid evidence.”

However Kyle later backed down and admitted similar legislation was “not on the cards” for now.

France’s education minister, Anne Genetet, recently confirmed she would like to adopt the Australian ban.

Several other European leaders have also expressed interest in an age ban, but are yet to introduce one, the Guardian noted.

The Zurich-based newspaper, Blick, reportedly cited a story showing overwhelming majority support for a similar ban in Switzerland.