But in case you're wondering...
SYDNEY, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Australia on Thursday passed into law a social media ban for children aged under 16 after an emotive debate that gripped the nation, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech. The law forces tech giants from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta (META.O), opens new tab to TikTok to stop minors logging in or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million). A trial of methods to enforce it will start in January with the ban to take effect in a year. The Social Media Minimum Age bill sets Australia up as a test case for a growing number of governments which have legislated or said they plan to legislate an age restriction on social media amid concern about its mental health impact on young people.
And the real kicker...
Getting the law passed after a marathon last day of Australia's parliamentary year marks a political win for centre-left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who goes to an election in 2025 amid sagging opinion polls. The ban faced opposition from privacy advocates and some child rights groups, but 77% of the population wanted it, according to latest polls.
Against the backdrop of a parliamentary inquiry through 2024 which heard evidence from parents of children who had self-harmed due to social media bullying, domestic media backed the ban led by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp (NWSA.O), opens new tab, the country's biggest newspaper publisher, with a campaign called "Let Them Be Kids". The ban could however strain Australia's relationship with key ally the United States, where X owner Elon Musk, a central figure in the administration of president-elect Donald Trump, said in a post this month it seemed a "backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians". It also builds on an existing mood of antagonism between Australia and mostly US-domiciled tech giants. Australia was the first country to make social media platforms pay media outlets royalties for sharing their content and now plans to threaten them with fines for failing to stamp out scams.
VPN companies are just relishing in this newfangled opportunity
TL;DR - Australia continues to be a land of cucked bootlickers, and now the kiddos down under really do a loicence to browse da web...
!freespeech !nooticers !zoomers they really are putting the "Oceania" in Oceania
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Raise it to 21. I've just about had it from
!chuds
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Fight for 25
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Beat on the brat
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why even bother
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Teenage girls doomscroll instagram and tiktok and developp eating disorder or early thothery.
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Good. At this point anorexia is just gonna make you be normal weight tbqh
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How are you supposed to stomp kids on Xbox Live otherwise?
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Lol wtf is going on !strayans tards. WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS. Dont think even China is this bad.
Also beware !eurochads
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Most muscular Eurochad.
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Good. The only minors who should access the internet are neurodivergent loser nerds like in the good old days
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inb4 ing drops to 0%
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There will still be parents out there that forc...allow their kids to be their true trans self.
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If they'd included more places like Groomercord, it definitely would decline noticeably.
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now kids will need their parents permission to get groomed on the internet
!transphobes
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Less children on the internet is objectively a good thing for the internet though. Now it should only also apply to mental children...
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I don't see how social media companies can enforce this. Does Australia really expect them to card everyone?
Why not... punish the parents for letting the kid violate the law? I hate these people so so much.
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Because apparently it's not about the companies that profit off the data gathered from each unique profile, or the parents not supervizing the content their children are exposed to, but the kids of being impressionable at such a young age
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How do they expect this to be enforced? Make everyone pinky promise they are 16 to make an account?
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That's the real problem. Good thing: get kids offline. Bad thing: every method they'd try and use to enforce it.
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Snapshots:
https://www.reuters.com/technology/australia-passes-social-media-ban-children-under-16-2024-11-28/:
ghostarchive.org
archive.org
archive.ph (click to archive)
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