Shoppers usage their phones arsenic they locomotion past the entranceway to a Myer section store, owned by Australia's biggest section store concatenation Myer Holdings Ltd, successful Sydney, Australia, November 1, 2017.
Steven Saphore | Reuters
Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said connected Thursday the authorities would legislate for a ban on social media for children under 16, a argumentation the authorities says is world-leading.
Australia is trialing an age-verification strategy to assistance successful blocking children from accessing social media platforms, arsenic portion of a ban that could travel into unit arsenic soon arsenic the extremity of adjacent year.
"Social media is doing harm to our kids and I'm calling clip connected it," Albanese told a quality conference.
Albanese cited the risks to carnal and intelligence wellness of children from excessive social media use, successful peculiar the risks to girls from harmful depictions of assemblage image, and misogynist contented aimed astatine boys.
"If you're a 14-year-old kid getting this stuff, astatine a clip wherever you're going done life's changes and maturing, it tin beryllium a truly hard clip and what we're doing is listening and past acting," helium said.
Legislation volition beryllium introduced into parliament this year, with the laws coming into effect 12 months aft being ratified by lawmakers, helium added.
The absorption Liberal Party has expressed enactment for a ban.
There volition beryllium nary exemptions for children who person parental consent, oregon who already person accounts.
"The onus volition beryllium on social media platforms to show they are taking tenable steps to forestall access," Albanese said. "The onus won't beryllium connected parents oregon young people."
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said platforms impacted would see Meta Platforms' Instagram and Facebook, arsenic good arsenic Bytedance's TikTok and Elon Musk's X. Alphabet's YouTube would apt besides autumn wrong the scope of the legislation, she added.
TikTok declined to comment, portion Meta, Alphabet and X did not respond to requests for comment.
A fig of countries person already vowed to curb social media use by children through legislation, though Australia's argumentation is 1 of the astir stringent.
France past twelvemonth projected a ban on social media for those under 15, though users were capable to debar the ban with parental consent.
The United States has for decades required exertion companies to question parental consent to entree the information of children under 13, starring to most social media platforms banning those under that property from accessing their services.
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