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Australia adds message board Reddit And livestreaming service Kik has joined the list of social media platforms that should ban children under 16 from having accounts.
Platforms connect with Facebook, Instagram, snapchatThreads, TikTok, X and YouTube in Facing world-first legal liability Communications Minister Anika Wells said on Wednesday that the accounts of young Australian children will be closed from December 10.
Platforms that fail to take appropriate steps Excluding children under 16 Can be punished with a fine of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33m; £24m).
“We have met with a number of social media platforms over the past month to make sure they understand there is no excuse for failure to enforce this law,” Ms Wells told reporters in Canberra.
“Online platforms use technology to target children with cold control. We are only asking that they use the same technology keep children safe online” Ms Wells said.
Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s e-Safety Commissioner who will enforce restrictions on social mediaSaid that the list of age-restricted platforms will evolve with new technologies.
A government statement said the nine platforms currently age-restricted meet the main requirement that their “sole or significant purpose is to enable online social interaction”.
Ms Inman Grant said she would work with academics to evaluate the effects of the ban, including whether children sleep more or interact more or become more physically active.
Ms Inman Grant said “we will also look for unintended consequences and gather evidence” so others can learn from Australia’s achievements.
Australia’s move is being closely watched by countries that share concerns about the impact of social media on young children.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen She told a UN forum in New York in September that she was “inspired” by Australia’s “common sense” move to legislate on an age restriction.
Critics of the law fear that banning young children from social media will affect the privacy of all users, who must establish that they are over the age of 16.
Ms Wells recently said the government wanted to keep platform users’ data as private as possible.
More than 140 Australian and international academics with expertise in areas related to technology and child welfare signed an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese last year, protesting social media age limits as “too blunt an instrument to effectively address the risks”.