Australia’s disruption of social media usage is unprecedented in the modern world. According to the new social media bill passed recently by the lawmakers, users below the age of 16 years will not be able to use any of the platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which is responsible for enhancing and protecting the health of the U.S. population finds the bill appropriate as it safeguards children. Australia today enforced a new law making it illegal for children as young as 14 and 15 to create Facebook and other social media accounts. As a result, the law has gained bipartisan support in both the houses of the Parliament.
Penalties for Violation
Including social media companies who have spoken out against the new social media bill, the sanctioning laws established by the bill come into conflict with prohibitive laws set out by other zones. Many of these Platforms state these laws are vague and difficult to comprehend or are problematic entirely and yet it does not prevent the countries from passing those laws. For non-compliance and disobeying the terms and conditions set forth in the bill, people or entities could potentially face up to $ 50 million dollars in fines.
PM Albanese’s Endorsement
Mid-left leaning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has been in electorate’s good books over the years, has strongly backed the recently introduced bill, terming it as quite necessary to safeguard the wellbeing of younger Australians. During the vote, Albanese drew attention to Malignant energies of the social network hands as a source of pressure from friends, psychological discomfort, cyberbullies and fraud. He stated that New generation Australians should be motivated to be more active in sports than being spectators on their mobile devices.
However, not all are in favor of the new ban along with the concern raised by the government regarding the teens and children use of it, people like Angus Lydom who is only 12 are disappointed. “I’d like to keep using it. And it’ll be a weird feeling to not have it,” he told the agency in a bitter tone. Lydom along with his peers indicated that if the restrictions are not put, they will look for ways to bypass it, an idea concurred by Elsie Arkinstall, eleven, saying social media has a lot of useful instructional material for baking and arts.
Crisis Over the Implementation
Although the ban is among the most severe in the world, critics are concerned about the specific details of the implementation. The existing legislation does not offer any comprehensive guide on the process of implementation of the rules leaving some thinking whether the law will be more of a statement than effective. It may take as much as 12 months for the regulators to flush out the details of the implementation.
Some social networks, like WhatsApp and YouTube, can be granted exemptions, especially for educational material and fun. The bill contains changes to the proposed regulations that will prevent the use of ID cards, issued by the state, for verification of age.
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A Global Model for Social Media Regulation
The Australian government's decision has garnered international attention, with many countries now looking at the legislation as a potential model. Some lawmakers in other regions, such as Spain and Florida, have proposed similar measures, although none have yet been implemented. China has already imposed restrictions on minors, limiting their access to apps like Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) to just 40 minutes per day.
Experts like social media consultant Susan Grantham suggest that digital literacy programs, such as those used in Finland, could help children develop critical thinking skills to navigate online content. This approach, alongside the new restrictions, could offer a balanced solution to the challenges posed by social media use among young people.
With inputs from agencies
Image Source: Multiple agencies
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