MELBOURNE – Social media giants on Nov 29 hit out at a landmark Australian law banning them from signing up under-16s, describing it as a rush job littered with “many unanswered questions”.
Platforms have a “social responsibility” to make children’s safety a priority, the prime minister said.Social media firms that fail to comply with the law face fines of up to A$50 million . Meta – owner of Facebook and Instagram – called for consultation on the rules to ensure a “technically feasible outcome that does not place an onerous burden on parents and teens”.
“This ban risks pushing children into increasingly covert and unregulated online spaces as well as preventing them from accessing aspects of the online world essential to their wellbeing,” she said.He founded streaming channel 6 News, which provides hourly news bulletins on national and international issues, in 2019 at the age of 11.