In December, Australia banned young people from using social media with new regulations.
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meta The tech giant has launched a new petition asking the Australian government to reconsider its recently imposed social media ban on under-16s after the tech giant blocked more than 500,000 accounts on its platform in a single month.
Australia’s Online Safety Amendment Act 2024 comes into effect on December 11, and will be used by Meta’s Instagram, Alphabet’s YouTube, Bytedance’s TikTok, redditSnapchat, Elon Musk’s X.
Meta then said in a blog post on Sunday that it removed about 550,000 accounts believed to be from under 16 years old between Dec. 4 and Dec. 11. Approximately 330,000 Instagram accounts, 173,500 Facebook accounts, and 40,000 Thread accounts were deleted.
“As previously stated, Mehta is committed to meeting its compliance obligations and is taking the necessary steps to remain compliant with the law,” Mehta said in the post.
“Having said that, we call on the Australian Government to work constructively with the industry to find a better way forward, including encouraging the industry as a whole to raise standards in providing a safe, private and age-appropriate online experience, rather than an outright ban.”
The company announced that it has teamed up with the nonprofit OpenAge Initiative to launch a paid age verification service called Age Keys. This will allow users to verify their age through government-issued ID, financial information, facial estimation, or national digital wallets.
However, he stressed that age verification and parental approval should be extended to the app store level, as teenagers use more than 40 apps a week, many of which do not use age verification tools, do not prioritize safety or are not within the scope of Australian law.
“This is the only way to ensure consistent protection across the industry, no matter which apps young people use, and avoid the whack-a-mole effect of catching up with new apps as young people migrate to circumvent social media bans,” it added.
Australia’s Online Safety Amendment Act 2024 came into force on 11 December.
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Mehta previously expressed his disapproval of the new law, saying that “isolating teens from their friends and communities is not the answer,” and stressed that some people will find other ways to access social media sites “without the protections provided to registered users.”
Since the ban, many Australian teens have found ways to circumvent the law, including by using alternative social media platforms that have not yet been banned, such as Snapchat alternative Yope, Bytedance’s video and photo sharing app Lemon8, and messaging platform Discord.
Additionally, other young people under the age of 16 told Sky News they were using VPNs and their parents’ social media accounts.
Meta is not the only platform to question the ban. Reddit has even filed a legal challenge against Australia, arguing that the new law is ineffective and restricts political debate. In preliminary comments to CNBC, Reddit said this could prevent teens from “participating in age-appropriate community experiences, including political discussions.”
“Children’s political views influence the electoral choices of many current voters, including their parents, teachers, and others interested in the views of their soon-to-be-adult children,” the group added in its filing.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese explained in an X video that the ban would put power back into the hands of parents and families at big tech companies, allowing “kids to be kids.”
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner said the ban would reduce teenagers’ exposure to stressful or harmful content, adding that it would also shift responsibility for teenagers’ social media use from parents to technology companies.
harm to mental health
Australia’s social media ban for under-16s could have an impact on other countries to follow, as lawmakers and parents continue to grapple with the negative mental health effects these platforms have on young users.
In 2023, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned of a social media-induced mental health crisis among teens in a report linking social media use to increased rates of depression and anxiety, as well as persistent eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and low self-esteem.
Concerns like these have led to the rise of parent-led groups around the world aimed at restricting children’s smartphone use. Such movements include the UK’s Smartphone Free Childhood Group, Austin-based Wait until 8th, Canada’s Unplugged, Mexico’s No Es Momento, and Australia’s Heads Up Alliance.
Jonathan Haidt, a professor at New York University and author of The Anxious Generation, is a leading figure in the movement to protect children from smartphones and social media. Hite advises that teenagers shouldn’t have a smartphone until they’re 14 and shouldn’t have access to social media until they’re 16.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hopes the ban will lead to long-term mental health changes, but immediate results have been mixed. The BBC report, which included interviews with Australian teens, said that while some teens have changed their habits for the better, others are feeling isolated and disconnected without social media or finding workarounds.
