The rise of toxicity on social media and the lack of proper safety regulations has prompted Australia, one of America’s key allies, to ban social media for children under 16. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the “world-leading” legislation will be tabled in the Australian parliament next week. All state and territory leaders have already signed the plan on age restrictions.

“This is for mums and dads. They, like me, are terribly worried about our children’s online safety. I want Australian families to know the government has your back,” she said. BBC.

Details are scarce on how Australia plans to enforce its social media ban on under-16s, but the government has confirmed it will apply to teens and teenagers who are already on social platforms. Since there will be no exceptions to the legislation, parental leave will not matter.

Moreover, social media companies will need to ensure compliance and prevent underage users from accessing their platforms.

The Australian legislation will come into force 12 months after it comes into force. This will give social media companies enough time to implement age-appropriate restrictions. But Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms, says it should be the responsibility of app store operators such as Apple and Google to monitor young people’s social media use.

“The problem is the technology is not quite there yet in terms of getting a perfect solution,” Mia Garlick, Meta’s Australian Regional Policy Director, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Friday. Bloomberg). He added that it would be better for application operators to impose age restrictions on their platforms rather than social media companies.

“If every app has to implement its own age-appropriate controls, then the burden will really fall on teens and parents for each of the different apps a teen wants to use,” he said.

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