Australian lawmakers make groundbreaking decision about teens' social media access
Australia becomes first country to pass nation-wide social media restrictions for under-16s. The game-changing law‚ supported by most citizens‚ gives platforms one year to create age-check systems
In a late-night decision yesterday‚ Australia made history by passing first-of-its-kind rules about young peoples social media use. The law blocks under-16s from having social-media accounts‚ making Australia the worlds first country to implement such wide-reaching limits
The story started about six months ago when Peter Malinauskas‚ South Australiaʼs leader got an eye-opening suggestion from his wife after she read a new book about social-medias effects on kids. His local push for change quickly went nation-wide (a rare case of small-state policy becoming country-wide law)
The new rules got super-fast support from Anthony Albaneseʼs government; surveys show around three-quarters of Aussies back the idea. Social-media companies will need to stop under-16s from making accounts or face big fines - up to A$49.5 million. Theyʼve got roughly a year to figure out how to check users ages
Parents want their kids off their phones and on the footy field
The law faced some push-back: TikTok says it might push teens to use less-safe parts of the web; while some politicians think its too much control. But most law-makers didnt care - they passed it around 11pm on parliaments last day of 2024
- Meta knew about mental health issues since 2021
- US health chief wanted warnings on social media
- News Corp ran big “Let Them Be Kids“ campaign
- Age-check tech testing starts next year
The rules come after years of world-wide worry about social medias effect on young minds. France and some US states tried similar things‚ but none went as far as Australiaʼs complete ban for under-16s
