The Australian government's proposed bill aimed at regulating social media platforms has been criticized by ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, for being inconsistent and ineffective. The company expressed concerns that the legislation was drafted without sufficient consultation with experts, mental health organizations, and young people. This criticism comes as 13 US states have recently sued TikTok over allegations that it is designed to be addictive and harms children's mental health.
https://petapixel.com/2024/11/27/australia-passes-world-first-bill-to-ban-social-media-for-kids-under-16/The Australian government has moved closer to banning social media for children under the age of 16 after the lower house of parliament passed a bill with bipartisan support. The legislation, which is expected to be debated by the Senate later on Wednesday, aims to impose some of the toughest social media controls in the world. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's Labor government has argued that excessive use of social media poses risks to children's physical and mental health, and is seeking support from parents to enforce the ban. The bill requires social media platforms such as Google and Meta to take reasonable steps to ensure age-verification protections are in place.
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/technology/australia-nears-social-media-ban-for-children-after-heated-debate-1841831The Australian government has introduced a Bill in parliament to ban social media for children under 16, with fines of up to A$49.5 million for social media platforms that fail to implement age-verification systems. The proposed law would require social media companies such as Meta Platforms' Instagram and Facebook, Bytedance's TikTok, Elon Musk's X, and Snapchat to verify the ages of their users. The government argues that excessive social media use poses risks to children's physical and mental health, particularly for girls who are exposed to harmful depictions of body image and misogynist content. The law would not exempt parents or existing accounts, but would allow children to access messaging, online gaming, and educational services such as Headspace and Google Classroom.