Australia Launches First Teen Social Media Ban for Safety
Australia’s social media ban for youths took effect Wednesday, a significant development that has garnered international attention as governments worldwide are increasingly implementing regulations to protect minors from harmful content and cyberbullying. The law, enacted last year, requires services like ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Instagram to prevent users under the age of 16 from accessing their platforms, or they risk facing fines that could reach as high as $49.5 million ($33 million). Australia has emerged as the world’s first democracy to implement such a crackdown, addressing increasing worries regarding the detrimental effects of social media. It is probable that this will be the first of numerous occurrences. Policymakers in Indonesia, Denmark, Brazil, and other nations are taking steps to regulate Big Tech, which views young users as a crucial demographic due to their potential to drive future growth. In Australia, other platforms impacted include Snap Inc.’s Snapchat, Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube, Reddit Inc., among others. All have stated their intention to comply, although numerous individuals have expressed dissent regarding regulations they believe were hastily implemented and could potentially drive children into more perilous areas of the internet. This week, Reddit announced the global launch of new safety features for all users under the age of 18.
“It is a profound reform which will continue to reverberate around the world in coming months,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated on Wednesday. “This reform will change lives for Australian kids, allowing them to just have their childhood.” Early indications suggest that young users in Australia are turning to alternative services that remain unaffected by the ban. On Wednesday morning, alternative social media platforms such as ByteDance’s Lemon8 and Yepo experienced a notable increase in popularity within Apple’s App Store. According to a source, Chinese-owned Rednote, an Instagram-like service also known as Xiaohongshu, experienced a significant increase in weekly active users of its mobile app, rising 37 percent during the week of Dec. 1 compared to the same period last year. Coverstar, a service that presents itself as a secure social platform for Generation Alpha, experienced a remarkable 488 per cent increase in usage in Australia during the same timeframe, according to the reports.
Virtual private networks, which can disguise a user’s location and offer a potential workaround for accessing banned platforms, are increasingly becoming popular. On Sunday, demand for VPNs surged by 103 per cent compared to the daily average over the preceding 28 days, as reported. On Tuesday, a group of young individuals turned to TikTok, utilizing the hashtag #socialmediaban to share their perspectives on the matter. An influencer, claiming to be 14, expressed her discontent with the new law; however, numerous commentators voiced differing opinions. Numerous TikTok users expressed their support for the ban, asserting that it could aid in safeguarding younger generations. Currently, Australia’s measures have prompted a growing number of governments to pursue accountability from social media companies regarding the content they present. Discussions with policymakers spanning from Jakarta to Copenhagen and Brasilia reveal that they are closely monitoring the implementation in Australia and strategizing their own initiatives to protect young users.
Indonesia, for one, has declared that individuals under 18 will require parental consent. A spokesperson for a prominent social media company informed the government that such an action would be a “disaster,” stated Fifi Aleyda Yahya. “So our response was, ‘well the disaster is happening already.’ ‘Look at our children,’” the official told the Sydney forum.
