In one of the strictest social media bans in the world, Australian lawmakers imposed a historic ban on youngsters under 16 on Thursday.
Although YouTube is exempt, the ban, which attempts to address the negative effects of excessive social media use on kids’ physical and mental health, applies to X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and Reddit.
The age limit is the highest established by any nation, and the platforms, who are solely responsible for enforcing it, have a year to find out how to apply it.
The platforms face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) if there are systematic failures to prevent children from obtaining accounts.
Senators debated the legislation late into the night on the last day of their parliamentary session, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor government had targeted as the deadline for it to pass. The bill, which is also largely supported by the opposition Liberal party, passed the Australian House of Representatives on Wednesday by a vote of 102 to 13.
Supporters of the ban have cited the effect of harmful depictions of body image on girls and the effect of misogynistic content on boys. Its passage comes after a series of Australian teenagers died by su!cide over what their families said was online bullying.
“The basis for this is that there is a feeling amongst the majority of Australians that social media does more h@rm than good,” said Rob Nicholls, a senior research associate in the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Sydney.
Australians now approve the ban at a rate of 77%, up from 61% in August, according to a YouGov poll released Tuesday.
Other nations have attempted to restrict children’s access to social media, such as the US, which mandates that digital companies get parental approval before collecting data from children under the age of 13.
However, the Australian proposal goes one step further and does not allow for pre-existing accounts or parental authorization. The Australian prohibition has drawn criticism for being an overly harsh tool and for being passed in a hasty manner.
