Australia's social media ban takes effect tomorrow, and illegal platforms can be fined more than 200 million

Australia's social media ban on people under the age of 16 will officially take effect on the 10th. It is expected that more than 1 million Australian teenagers will be unable to use relevant social media accounts.It is reported that the Australian Federal Parliament passed the "Cybersecurity (Minimum Age for Social Media) Amendment Act 2024" in November last year, which prohibits minors under the age of 16 from using most social media platforms.

After the bill comes into effect, Australia will become the first country in the world to implement such a ban, and it will also be the country with the strictest legislation on the use of social media by minors in the world.

Under the bill surrounding the ban, minors or their parents who violate the rules will not be punished.

However, social media companies that fail to take reasonable measures to prevent minors under the age of 16 from using their platforms will be fined up to approximately 50 million Australian dollars, or approximately 232 million yuan.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), Snapchat, and YouTube have all been included in the list subject to the ban.

The Australian government stated that the list of platforms will be dynamically adjusted based on the actual situation.

According to reports, Snapchat’s photo-sharing platform will determine which users may be under 16 by analyzing their account behavior and the date of birth they filled in when registering.

TikTok stated that it will use a combination of technical detection and manual review to identify and handle the accounts of minors under the age of 16.

Meta, which operates Facebook and Instagram, will use the facial scanning function on users suspected of being under 16 years old.

However, the accuracy of this method is still limited when it comes to identifying users around the age of 16, and the platform will need more time to verify and improve these technologies.

Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells said that although this ban cannot completely protect children from online content, it can at least allow children to grow up better.