Prohibited for people under 16 years old! The world's strictest social media ban passed

On Thursday (November 28th) local time, the Australian Senate voted to pass a bill imposing a social media ban on people under the age of 16 in the country. Next, technology companies must take "reasonable measures" to prevent underage users from accessing social media services, otherwise they may face huge fines of nearly 50 million Australian dollars (approximately 32 million US dollars).

At this point, the bill has passed the review of both houses of Congress and officially become law. The law will be implemented starting from January next year and will come into effect one year later (November 2025), with the aim of finding specific ways for relevant social media companies to enforce the ban. The Australian government believes that this move is beneficial for protecting the mental health of the target population.

This is the harshest response to the issue of teenagers using social media in the world so far, and the ban is expected to apply to Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and X, but the list may expand.

According to this bill, minors under the age of 16 cannot use social media platforms even with parental consent, and social media platforms with systematic violations can be fined up to AUD 49.5 million. In addition, parents and children will not be punished for contempt of the ban, but technology companies need to prove that they have taken reasonable measures to prevent underage users.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told lawmakers that "every serious government" is working hard to address the impact of social media on young people, and the leaders of the countries he spoke with have praised Australia's proactive actions on this issue.

"We know that social media can be a tool for bullies, a platform for peer pressure, a pusher for anxiety, and a tool for fraudsters. Worst of all, it can also be a tool for online predators." Online predators refer to criminals who use the Internet to lure, manipulate, or harm others.

Even the main opposition party in Australia, the Liberal Party, supports the bill, with Liberal Senator Maria Kovacic calling it a critical moment for the Australian nation. We have drawn a clear line. The immense power of large technology companies in Australia can no longer be unchecked

Billionaire Elon Musk's subsidiary X stated that the platform is not widely used by minors, but expressed concerns about the impact of the law on their freedom of speech.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, responded by stating that they have been continuously investing in developing tools to enhance platform security. They strongly recommend that the government wait for the results of age verification trials, which are expected to be announced next year.

A spokesperson for Meta stated that the company respects Australian law, but is "concerned" about the process as Australia hastily passed the bill without proper consideration of evidence, measures taken by the industry to ensure an age appropriate experience, and the voices of young people.

Despite many opposing views, the survey shows that Australians generally support this ban. A YouGov poll conducted this month showed that 77% of Australians support a social media ban for the country's under-16 population.

In addition to Australia, some regions including France and some states in the United States have previously passed regulations restricting minors from accessing social media without parental permission, but the upcoming ban in Australia is the most severe among them.

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