Australia proposes legal minimum age for children accessing social media

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The Australian government on Tuesday promised to legislate this year to enforce a minimum age for children to access social media, but it has yet to announce how ages will be verified.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government would soon trial age verification technology with a view to banning children from opening social media accounts. The line would be drawn between the ages of 14 and 16.

Several countries and U.S. states are attempting to legislate to spare children harm from social media, including bullying.

The Australian move comes as parents increasing call for their children to be protected online and with the opposition party promising a social media ban for children under 16 if it wins elections due by May next year.

“We’ve committed to introducing legislation before the end of this year for age verification to make sure that we get young people away from this social harm,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“This is a scourge. We know that there is mental health consequences for what many of the young people have had to deal with. The bullying that can occur online, the access to material which causes social harm, and parents are wanting a response,” Albanese added.

Lisa Given, an information technology expert at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, said the government’s plan would prevent children accessing useful content as well.

“This is actually a very problematic move,” Given said.

“This is a very blunt instrument that’s going to potentially exclude children from some very, very helpful supports on social media."

South Australia state has recently proposed a law that would fine social media companies that did not exclude children under the age of 14 from their platforms.