The Australian government presented this Thursday in Parliament a bill that seeks to prohibit social networks for minors under 16 years of age and proposes fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (32 million US dollars) on networking platforms. due to systematic infractions.
To do this, Australia plans to test an age verification system that may include biometric data or government identificationl to enforce an age limit on social media, one of the strictest controls imposed by any country to date.
This is the highest age limit established by any country (In Spain the Ministry of Youth and Children proposes reducing it to 14 years), and it would not take into account parental consent even for accounts that minors have already created. .
«This is a historic reform. “We know that some children will find a way to skip it, but we are sending a message to social media companies to do things right,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.
This law would affect Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, networks for health or education. He has set an example Google Classroom or YouTube.
The Australian government has argued that excessive use of social media poses a risk to the physical and mental health of children, particularly girls, due to harmful representations of body image and misogynistic content directed at children.
Several countries seek to ban social networks
Several countries have already committed to curbing children’s use of social media through legislation, but none with a level as strict as that of Australia.
For example, France proposed last year to prohibit the use of social networks by those under 15 years of age, but users could avoid the ban if they had the consent of their parents. The United States has been demanding technology companies for decades to request the parental consent to access the data of minors under 13 years of age.
“For too many young Australians, social media can be harmful. “Almost two-thirds of Australians aged 14 to 17 have seen extremely harmful content online, such as drug use, suicide or self-harm,” Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said in Parliament on Thursday.
The law would force social media platforms, not parents or young people, to take steps to ensure age verification protections. It will also include the obligation of platforms to destroy any information collected to safeguard users’ personal data.
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