The Australian government announced this Thursday that it was seeking limit access to social networks to those under 16 with a legislative proposal to alleviate mental health problems among children and adolescents.
The Prime Minister of Australia, Antoine Albanaiswhich had already announced last September its intention to limit the access of minors to social networks and other digital platforms, revealed that the minimum age would be 16 years.
“Now, the age proposed by the Government is 16; this decision was taken on Monday in the Council of Ministers”Albanese announced at a press conference in Canberra, stressing that once his proposal is approved, parents will be able to tell their children: “I’m sorry, (this) is against the law.”
“Social networks are harming our children and I am going to put an end to it,” Albanese stressed, justifying his proposal with other legal measures, such as those which prohibit those under 18 from purchasing alcoholic beverages.
The invoicewhich could reach Parliament in the coming weeks and would enter into force twelve months after its approval, will not exclude minors under 16 who already have accounts on social networks nor to those who have parental consent.
The president, however, clarified that no sanctions will be imposed on users or parents and that it will be the owners of the social networks who will be responsible for enforcing the age limit.
In this sense, the Australian Electronic Safety Commission will be responsible for issuing regulations so that digital platforms and social networks establish “reasonable measures” to restrict access to minors.
Legislation could affect social networks like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X and YouTube although exceptions are considered for platforms considered “low risk”.
With its project, Australia echoes global concerns that led Spain to set the minimum age for access to a social network at 14, although it is planned to increase it to 16, taking into account the risks related to privacy, coercion, threats and computer scams.
Furthermore, Last July, Puerto Rico decreed that the minimum age to activate an account on any social network was 18 years old.a measure similar to that of Texas (United States), while in the US state of Florida the minimum age is 14 years.
Two laws were passed in New York: one requiring parental consent for minors under 18 to use “addictive discussion threads” based on recommendation algorithms, as well as another to limit collection data from minors.
