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The Digital Industry Group Inc (DIGI) is unsurprisingly wary of the Labor government’s plan to ban social media for children under 16.
The head of an Australian peak body representing social media companies such as Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat has again expressed concern over the federal government’s proposed age-based social media ban, calling for a greater period of consultation on the legislation.
The legislation is being released today, with just a 24-hour period where individuals and organisations can present submissions on the new laws.
The government is planning to sign the legislation into law, with the support of the Liberal National Party, during the last sitting week of Parliament, despite concerns voiced by politicians, academics, human rights organisations, the eSafety Commissioner, and the Children’s Commissioner.
“More than 100 experts in the Australian Child Rights Taskforce have opposed the ban in a letter to Prime Minister Albanese, with concerns that it risks isolating young people, preventing them from accessing mental health support and making social connections,” DIGI managing director Sunita Bose said in a 21 November statement.
“Neither experts nor the community have been consulted on the details of the legislation being released today, and we need to hear from them before this becomes law.
“Mainstream digital platforms have strict measures in place to keep young people safe, and a ban could push young people onto darker, less safe online spaces that don’t have safety guardrails.
“A blunt ban doesn’t encourage companies to continually improve safety because the focus is on keeping teenagers off the service rather than keeping them safe when they’re on it.”
Bose also warned of ban’s impact on all Australians, regardless of age.
“If this proposal uses Australia’s legal definition of ‘social media’, it extends to a massive number of websites with interaction between ‘two or more end users’, including community forums, business forums or anything with comments enabled,” Bose said.
“For a range of websites to verifiably know whether someone is 14 or 40, young people and adults alike will need to take regular actions like providing sensitive personal ID documents, biometric facial scans, or link to myGovID.
“We haven’t seen this implemented anywhere else in the world and don’t yet know the unintended safety and mental health consequences, nor the privacy and data security implications – a public consultation through a parliamentary committee would be a first step to finding out.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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