Australia on Thursday passed a groundbreaking law that bans children under the age of 16 from using social media as part of an effort to safeguard young people from potential hazards found online.
The law sailed through the Parliament's lower house on Wednesday with 102 votes to 13 before it passed the Senate on Thursday with bipartisan support, with 34 votes to 19. Australia's ban will become a world-first law.
"Too often social media isn't social at all, and we all know that. The truth is it's doing harm to our children, and I'm calling time on it," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement following the bill's passage.
How Will the Ban Work?
The ban is expected to affect major social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter). YouTube and other messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, are notably exempted from the ban.
Tech companies will be given a year to develop methods to enforce the ban, per NPR. Failure to comply and failing to prevent children under the age of 16 from creating accounts can result in fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars or approximately $32- to $33 million USD.
The law specifies that social media users will not be forced to provide government identification when verifying their profiles.
It is unclear how Australia plans to identify whether social media profiles belong to children under 16 once the ban is implemented. They are, however, testing technologies behind age verification.
How Did Critics and the Public Respond?
In a statement published by Meta on Tuesday, the company---which owns Facebook, Instagram, and Threads---said the bill was rushed and noted that there was no "adequate consultation" about the implementation of the ban.
Save the Children CEO Mat Tinkler also argues that the Australian government should regulate social media companies instead of imposing a blanket ban.
In contrast, 77% of Australians polled by YouGov earlier this month said they support the banning of social media usage for children under 16. That increased from the 61% support the bill garnered from the general public in August, prior to the government's official announcement.
