It is now only a matter of time. In the coming months, Australian children under the age of 16 will be prohibited from accessing Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Snapchat. The bill to ban access to social media for those under 16 was overwhelmingly passed by the House of Representatives in Australia on Wednesday, November 27.
Australian lawmakers supported the legislation (102 votes in favor, 13 against), which was announced earlier in November by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, according to the Associated Press. The Senate is set to review the bill on the same day, with a definitive adoption expected by the end of the week.
This groundbreaking legislation would require platforms like X, TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram to take measures to prevent under-16s from accessing their services. Australia is among the countries leading the charge in regulating social media to protect children; however, the implementation details remain unclear. The law includes strict privacy protection criteria that would require tech giants to delete any information collected for age verification.
