Australia sharing tips on curbing social media for children before age limit starts in December

印刷用画面を開く

Posted

Category: (Self-Study) Education/Family

Switch to Watch View >

Storyline

Hide Storyline

The Australian government has begun a public education campaign with tips on how to wean children off social media ahead of a world-first national 16-year age limit taking effect in December.

Australian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said that information on her agency’s website, esafety.gov.au, explained the new laws and how to navigate them.

Starting December 10, platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X, and YouTube could be fined up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) if they don’t take reasonable steps to prevent Australians younger than 16 from holding accounts.

Messages raising awareness will also be shared across digital channels, television, radio, and billboards.

“We want children to have childhoods. We want parents to have peace of mind, and we want young people—young Australians—to have three more years to learn who they are before platforms assume who they are,” Communications Minister Anika Wells told reporters, referring to the current de facto 13-year age limit for social media accounts based on U.S. privacy legislation.

The Australian age restrictions have already proved polarizing, with some experts warning the changes will harm as well as protect children. More than 140 Australian and international academics signed an open letter to the government last year opposing a social media age limit as “too blunt an instrument to address risks effectively.”

Despite that warning, the laws passed with resounding support last year. The platforms had a year to figure out how to comply without foolproof technology available to verify ages. Inman Grant said the social media age restriction would be a “very monumental event for a lot of young people.”

Her agency offered checklists and conversation starters about ways to make the transition, such as following an online influencer through a website rather than a social media account, she said.

Australia’s move is being watched closely by countries that share concerns about social media’s impacts on young children.

This article and video were provided by The Associated Press.

Script

Hide Script

[Communications Minister Anika Wells and eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant arriving]

Anika Wells (speech): “Good morning everybody. The e-safety Commissioner and I have just finished briefing the state and territory education ministers on the social media minimum age laws and our broader work in online safety. That work includes the minimum age law, digital literacy, digital duty of care and work to restrict nudify apps in Australia. With less than 2 months now until the 10th of December, we will continue to engage with teachers, students, children and parents because we want this law to be discussed openly and regularly in classrooms, on the drive to school and around kitchen tables when people eat together at night. On Sunday, you will start seeing our national education campaign on televisions, on billboards, on radio and digital channels. We have hard copy information packs aimed at raising awareness about the upcoming changes. There are tailored versions that have been developed for remote and regional First Nations, secondary schools and language and religious secondary schools. We have digital information kits which provide in-depth information about how the social media minimum age laws will work and today there are a suite of resources available on esafety.gov.au. This law is happening, it is happening on the 10th of December and it will change lives. We want children to have childhoods, we want parents to have peace of mind and we want young people, young Australians, to have three more years to learn who they are before platforms assume who they are.”

[Wells and Inman Grant posing for a photo]

Julie Inman Grant (speech): “We have developed a whole new repository or suite of education materials to really help them navigate what these changes will look like. We know this will be a very monumental event for a lot of young people, so some of the resources, to give you an example, for parents might include checklists but also conversation starters. What are the things that we need to do to talk to kids about where they’re seeing people now? If they’re following an influencer that we approve of, can they find them on a website? How do we start weaning them from social media now so it isn’t a shock on December 10th? How do we help them download their archives and their memories? And how do we make sure that they’re in touch with friends and are aware of mental health support if they’re feeling down, when they’re not tethered to their phones over the holiday period.”

[Wells and Inman Grant leaving]

This script was provided by The Associated Press.

The related lesson for this video will be published next Tuesday.