The Australia government has introduced the Online safety Amendment Bill aiming to protect under 16s from using social media.
META applications such as Instagram, Facebook, Elon Musks’s X, Snapchat and Tiktok are among the social media applications that the government aims to control.
The government of Australia has introduced The Online safety Amendment Bill aiming to protect under 16s from using social media.
“These services will be required to take reasonable steps to prevent persons under the age of 16 years from creating or holding an account,” Michelle Rowland, Minister of Communications said.
The legislation will however, allow the minors to have access to educational healthy content and services which are secure for their critical stages of development. They include, messaging, online gaming, Headspace, Kids Helpline, Google Classroom and YouTube.
“This is a landmark reform. We know some kids will find workarounds, but we’re sending a message to social media companies to clean up their act.” The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese said.
On Thursday, 21st of November, the Communications Minister explained to the parliament that almost two thirds of children between the ages of 14-17 have been exposed to extremely harmful content online.
“For too many young Australians, social media can be harmful. Almost two-thirds of 14 to 17-year-old Australians have viewed extremely harmful content online, including drug abuse, suicide or self-harm,” said Miss Rowland.
The Minister explained further saying that strong penalties will be introduced in the proposed legislation for online safety breaches facing fines of up to $49.5 million.
“We need to create a strong incentive for compliance and increasing the maximum penalties for online safety breaches to up to $49.5 million brings our penalty framework into line with other laws, Rowland said.
Through this measure, the Government of Australia will hold platforms accountable for ensuring the safety of their users.
“We know social media is doing social harm,” Albanese said.
According to the Minister, The Online safety Amendment Bill will contain robust privacy provisions, including requiring platforms to destroy any information collected to safeguard the personal data of users.
The legislation is said to have been designed following extensive feedback from young Australians, parents, experts, industry, community organizations and state and territory governments.
A number of countries have been seen to be on the forefront advocating for the control and protection of children on social media.
Earlier this year, social media platforms such as Tiktok faced serious scrutiny from the Kenyan Government seeking to regulate the site after accusations of promoting explicit content.
Countries like India, Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, New Zealand, Senegal and Somalia have completely banned applications such as TikTok.
University Lecturer, Miss Nancy
In an interview with Miss Nancy, she narrated a story of how her friend’s child got to be a victim of the negative impact of using social media.
“During the April 2024 academic holiday, my neighbor at Ongata Rongai recently was shocked when his 16 year old developed mental health issues after dealing with perverts on TikTok who made her to inflict injuries on her private parts in order to earn diamonds,” she explained.
The parents interrogated their daughter and discovered that she joined TikTok in January of 2023.
“The young girl was using her mother’s account to log in to TikTok since the mother rarely used TikTok, unaware what had been transpiring. Moreover, the parents were astonished to find out that the daughter had a PayPal account which she used to withdraw the money she got from the diamonds she was sent by the perverts. She experiences hallucinations and insomnia and is currently on treatment (therapy and antidepressants) at Mathare mental hospital.” Nancy said.
Miss Nancy further explained that most parents are usually busy thus creating room for minors to go wild with content that can excite their viewers and earn them more diamonds. As a result, more and more kids are exposing their nudes and engaging in sexually appealing conversations as a form of enticing their “e-clients” who in return, reward them with diamonds. The pressure to keep up with the perverts is overwhelming to the minors and they also use the uncontrolled secret incomes to buy drugs and bribe their way to controlled places and privileges not meant for minors. These activities lead to drug overdose, mental health issues and suicide especially when they lose viewers or develop self-esteem issues.
She urged the parents to be more vigilant and if possible, participate, monitor and control their children usage of social media platforms.
