Australia has given the green light to legislation that bans social networks for people under 16

This law, which is expected to come into force within a year – in November 2025. establishes Some of the strictest controls in the world Will oblige social networks and platforms to take measures to ensure age verification security. To do this, Australia plans to test an age verification system that could include biometric data or government identification. The trial will run for several months and its results will be reviewed in mid-2025.

This criterion starts from the highest age limit established by any country (in fact, in Spain the Ministry of Youth and Children proposes to reduce it to 14 years), and Parental consent will not be taken into account Nor will it leave active accounts that minors have created before the law came into force.

“This is a historic reform.” We know some kids will find a way to leave“But we are sending a message to social media companies to get things right,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement after a late-night parliamentary session.

Initially, this law will affect Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X and Snapchat and will exclude messaging networks like WhatsAppAnd in Albanese’s words, online video games (which have their established limits) as well as apps or network-related services for health or education. When Australia passed the bill two weeks ago, Albanese also made clear that networks preferred Google Classroom or YouTube He would be excluded from the veto, “because his rich work adds up to more than just threats.”

However, the Australian government maintains a very anti-social media position. Albanese has argued on several occasions that excessive use of social networks shows Threat to children’s physical and mental healthParticularly for girls, due to harmful representations of body image and misogynistic content directed at children.

millionaire fine

Under the law, companies could be fined up to AUD 49.5 million (US$32 million) in case of breaking the rules and allowing minors to access their social networks.

In their submission to Parliament, Google and Meta said the ban should be postponed at least until testing of the age verification system is completed in mid-2025, with TikTok saying the bill required further consultation. While Elon Musk of X argued that the proposed law could harm children’s human rights.

The Senate committee endorsed the bill this week, but included a condition that social media platforms would not force users to submit personal data such as passports and other digital identity documents to prove their age.

Many countries want to ban social networks

Many countries are already committed to curbing children’s use of social media through legislation, but none with as stringent a level as Australia. For example, France last year proposed banning the use of social media by people under 15, but users could avoid the ban if they had their parents’ consent. For its part, the United States has for decades been requiring technology companies to request parental consent to access the data of children under 13.