Australia will ban children under 16 from having social media accounts,after its parliament approved the laws. The ban will not take effect for at least 12 months. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the legislation is to protect children from the negative affect of social media. However,critics say questions over how the ban will work have not been answered so far.

 This is not the first time that it is restricted to use social media by children. However, the minimum age ,16, is the highest age by any country. The Minister Michelle Rowland has said the ban will involve Snapchat,TikTok,Facebook,Instagram and X . Additionally, gaming and messaging platforms and platforms that can be accessed without an account,for example youtube, will probably be spared.

Most of the experts say the is too blunt an instrument to adress the risks about social media use and warn that it could push children into unregulated sides of the internet. Furthermore, Google and Snapchat have said the legislation does not provide many details. Meta have said the bill will be ineffective. There are  more explanations from social media platforms.Albanese have accepted the debate is complex however defended the bill.He said”We do not argue that its implementation will be perfect,just like the alcohol ban for children under 18 does not mean that under 18 never access but we know that it is the right thing to do”. 

Source:

https://bbc.com/news/articles/c89vjj0lxx9o

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Australian Senate approves social media ban on under-16s | BBC News