Reaction to the bill that will ban social media: Google and Meta want the bill to ban social media for children to be postponed
The effects of social media and mobile games, especially on children, have been on the agenda of states for a long time. We also see that in our country, some applications have been blocked in the recent past and are still blocked. A debate on this issue also took place on the Australian continent.
The center-left government of the country’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had announced that it wanted to enact the bill, which includes some of the world’s strictest controls on children’s social media use, by the end of the year session of parliament. The bill was presented to parliament last week and remained open for comments for one day.
“THE RESULTS OF THE MEASURES MUST BE WAITED”
Google and Meta stated that the government should wait for the results of the age verification trial. The age verification system may include biometric data or government IDs to enforce social media age limits. “Without these results, neither the industry nor Australians will understand the scale of age verification required by the bill or the impact such measures will have on Australians. In its current form, the bill is inconsistent and ineffective,” Meta said.
DETAILS OF THE DRAFT
The law would force social media platforms to take reasonable steps to ensure age verification protections are enforced, rather than parents or children. For systematic violations, companies can be fined up to A$49.5 million (US$32 million). The opposition Liberal Party is expected to support the bill, but some independent MPs accused the government of rushing through the process within a week. A Senate committee responsible for communications laws is due to submit a report today.
THE BILL IS BEING RUSHED
Bytedance’s TikTok said the bill lacked clarity and had “significant concerns” about the government’s plan to pass the bill without detailed consultation with experts, social media platforms, mental health organizations and young people. “When a new policy is proposed, it is important that the law is prepared carefully and thoughtfully to ensure it can achieve its stated purpose. This has not been the case for this bill,” TikTok said.
Elon Musk’s X also expressed concerns that the bill would negatively affect the human rights of children and young people, as well as their rights to freedom of expression and access to information, Reuters news agency reported. The US billionaire criticized the Australian government last week, saying the bill seemed like a backdoor way to control internet access.
Australia’s proposed social media ban for children under 16 has created a huge debate between tech giants and the government. Companies such as Google, Meta, TikTok and X argue that the bill was rushed and its potential impacts were not adequately evaluated. The government states that it is necessary to take this step to increase children’s online safety. The future of the bill will become clear with the votes to be held in the parliament in the coming days.
What do you think?