Social media ban for young children in Australia Social media ban for young children in Australia 
The Australian Senate on Thursday passed a social media ban for young children which will soon become the first law of this manner.
The law will will prevent the popular social media platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram from allowing children younger than 16 years to hold accounts on them and in case of systemic failures to do so, they will be liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (267.5 crore INR).
The Senate passed the bill 34 votes to 19 after the House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved the legislation 102 votes to 13.
The House has yet to endorse opposition amendments made in the Senate which is at this point a formality only since the government has already agreed they will pass.
The platforms will have one year to work out how they could implement the ban before penalties are enforced.
Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said the legislation had been “rushed.”
The amendments bolster privacy protections. Platforms would not be allowed to compel users to provide government-issued identity documents including passports or driver's licenses, nor could they demand digital identification through a government system.
While the major parties support the ban, many child welfare and mental health advocates are concerned about unintended consequences.
Also Read | Australia Introduces Social Media Ban For Children Under 16
Legislators On The Bill PassingSen. David Shoebridge, from the minority Greens party, said mental health experts agreed that the ban could dangerously isolate many children who used social media to find support.
“This policy will hurt vulnerable young people the most, especially in regional communities and especially the LGBTQI community, by cutting them off,” Shoebridge told the Senate.
Opposition Sen. Maria Kovacic said the bill was not radical but necessary. “The core focus of this legislation is simple: It demands that social media companies take reasonable steps to identify and remove underage users from their platforms,” Kovacic told the Senate.
“This is a responsibility these companies should have been fulfilling long ago, but for too long they have shirked these responsibilities in favor of profit,” she added.
CriticismCritics argue that the government is trying to convince parents it is protecting their children in the lead-up to a general election due by May.
The government hopes voters will reward it for addressing concerns about children's addiction to social media.
However, some believe the proposed law could cause more harm than good.
Criticisms include the law being rushed through Parliament without proper scrutiny, its ineffectiveness, privacy risks for all users, and undermining parents' authority to make decisions for their children.
Some opponents have also argued that the ban could isolate childrenkryptosino, depriving them of the positive aspects of social media, push them to the dark web, discourage younger children from reporting harm, and reduce the motivation for platforms to improve online safety.