Australia Dismisses Meta, Elon Musk's Criticism Of Social Media Ban For Under-16s As 'Unsurprising'

The Australian government has dismissed Meta and Elon Musk's criticism of the former's plan to impose a ban on social media for children under 16, calling it unsurprising.

On Thursday, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland introduced the proposed law in Parliament, which would ban children under 16 from using social media, 9News reported.

Platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X, and Instagram were among the social media platforms that could face fines of up to AU$50 million for failing to prevent the teens from holding accounts.

"This bill seeks to set a new normative value in society that accessing social media is not the defining feature of growing up in Australia," Rowland stated, while presenting the bill in Parliament. "There is wide acknowledgement that something must be done in the immediate term to help prevent young teens and children from being exposed to streams of content unfiltered and infinite."

In response to the proposed law, billionaire and owner of X, Elon Musk, said: "Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians."

Treasurer Jim Chalmers dismissed Musk's criticism as "unsurprising."

"Our job is not to come up with a social media policy to please Elon Musk. Our job is to put in place the necessary protection for kids online, and that's our motivation. We do that in the face of feedback from all quarters, we listen respectfully to the feedback we get on this policy and indeed on all of our policies, even where we don't agree with it. But the idea that Elon Musk is not delighted with our steps to try and protect kids online is not a big surprise to us, nor does it trouble us greatly," Chalmers added.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, expressed concern that the Australian government might be "rushing" the legislation without "adequate consultation or evidence," while affirming that it would respect any age limits introduced by the government.

"We've already invested significantly in understanding age and ensuring age-appropriate experiences on our apps, including the recent introduction of Instagram Teen Accounts," a spokesperson said.

"There are still many unknowns with respect to its implementation. The legislation as drafted seems out of step with available research and expert opinions, including those from within the government, academia, industry, mental health organizations, and Australian parents and young people," Meta spokesperson added.

Despite support for the proposed law, debate over its effectiveness continued. As Parliament had to approve the age limit, details may change before it became law. Once enacted, the platforms will have one year to implement the age restriction.

Several countries have been considering laws to curb social media use by children, Reuters reported.

Last year, France suggested a ban on social media use for children below 15 years, allowing parental consent. For many years, U.S. law has mandated that technology companies obtain parental consent before collecting data from children under 13.