Australia PM plays down privacy fears of social media ban for children
By Alasdair Pal
SYDNEY, Nov 25 (Reuters) -Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday social media firms would be required to destroy personal data used to verify ages of users, as part of what the government says is a world-leading ban on under-16s using the services.
Australia plans to trial an age-verification system that may include biometrics or government identification to enforce a social media age cut-off, some of the toughest controls imposed by any country to date.
"There will be very strong and strict privacy requirements to protect people's personal information, including an obligation to destroy information provided once age has been verified," Albanese told parliament on Monday.
The laws would impact Meta Platforms' META.O Instagram and Facebook, Bytedance's TikTok and Elon Musk's X and Snapchat SNAP.N.
They have been criticised by figures including Musk, who said on Friday the legislation was a backdoor attempt to control access to the internet for all Australians.
The proposals are the highest age limit set by any country, and would have no exemption for parental consent and no exemption for pre-existing accounts. Platforms face fines of up to $32 million for failing to comply with the legislation.
The government has said it aims to pass the bill into law by the end of the parliamentary year on Thursday, fast-tracking it through the upper and lower houses of parliament.
Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Stephen Coates
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
