Australia Introduces Strict Social Media Age Restrictions

Australia is set to introduce some of the strictest social media age restrictions in the world, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announcing on Monday that social media platforms will be required to destroy personal data used to verify the ages of users. This move is part of a new initiative aimed at banning under-16s from using social media services.

The Australian government plans to implement an age-verification system that may include biometrics or government identification to enforce the age cutoff. These measures are among the toughest regulations imposed by any country to date.

Prime Minister Albanese emphasized that there will be strong privacy protections to safeguard users’ personal information, with platforms required to destroy age-verification data once the user’s age has been confirmed.

The new laws will affect major social media companies, including Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, Bytedance’s TikTok, Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter), and Snapchat. The proposed laws have faced criticism, particularly from figures like Musk, who described the legislation as an attempt to control internet access for all Australians.

The age restriction proposals are the most stringent ever introduced, with no exemptions for parental consent or pre-existing accounts. Platforms that fail to comply could face fines of up to $32 million. The Australian government aims to pass the bill by the end of the parliamentary year, fast-tracking it through both houses of parliament.

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