Image courtesy of David Clode on Unsplash
Last week, legislators in Australia’s House of Reps voted 102 to 13 to ban social media for all persons under 16 years old. The legislation will head to the Senate. If the Senate approves it, Australia will be the first country on the globe to do something to protect their children from something that was thrust on the world with no protective restrictions.
Sunita Bose, the social media lobbyist who is paid by big tech, told Australia’s Parliament that she fears that “such a ban would be harmful to children,” spoken like a real social media trafficker.
This ban is proposing to apply to: X, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, and Instagram and other platforms. They would be fined $33 million (USD) for their failures to prevent those under 16 years old from holding accounts.
If the bill becomes law, it will take effect in one year to allow the platforms time to resolve those destructive algorithms and finally provide solutions that would protect our most vulnerable.
