Subhi Agrawal
Australia to set a minimum age limit for using social media for children, noting the concerns about mental and physical health. The plan has sparked controversy from digital rights advocates, raising concern about dangerous online activity underground.
“I Want To See Kids Off Their Devices”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his center-left government will first run an age verification trial and then introduce minimum age-related laws for social media. He didn’t define an age but most likely would be between 14 and 16.
“I want to see kids off their devices and onto the footy fields and the swimming pools and the tennis courts,” Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“We want them to have real experiences with real people because we know that social media is causing social harm,” he further stated.
After the European Union fails to impose age-related laws to reduce online activities for minors, Australia will be at the top to impose the law for children.
Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, which currently has a minimum age of 13, said it aims to help young people benefit from its platforms and provide parents with tools to support them, rather than simply restricting access.
YouTube owner Alphabet did not respond to a request for comment while TikTok wasn’t available for the comment.
According to tech industry figures, Australia with four-fifths of its 26 million people on social media has been one of the top countries for online presence in the world.
Impacts On The Mental Health Of Teenagers
Albanese announced the age restriction plan amid a parliamentary inquiry into social media’s effects on society, which received emotional testimony of impacts on the mental health of Teenagers. However, it also raises the concern of encouraging young adults to do online activities underground.
“This knee-jerk move … threatens to create serious harm by excluding young people from meaningful, healthy participation in the digital world, potentially driving them to lower-quality online spaces,” said Daniel Angus, director of the Queensland University of Technology Digital Media Research Centre, reported by CNN Business.
Australia’s internet regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, said in a statement that it would “continue working with stakeholders across government and the community to further refine Australia’s approach to online harms,” which can “threaten safety across a range of platforms at any age, both before and after the mid-teen years.”
An industry body representing social media platforms, DIGI stated that the government should listen to “expert voices such as the eSafety Commissioner … mental health experts, as well as LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized groups who have expressed concerns about bans so that we’re not unintentionally pushing our kids into unsafe, less visible parts of the Internet.”
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings