Virgilio Lorenzo Jr

Australian PM ready to 'engage' with Musk on social media teen ban

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<p>SYDNEY — Australia&#x27;s prime minister said Sunday he was ready to &quot;engage&quot; with billionaire X owner Elon Musk over his criticism of the government&#x27;s ban on under-16s joining social media.</p><p>Anthony Albanese hailed the parliament&#x27;s Thursday passage of landmark legislation requiring social media firms to take &quot;reasonable steps&quot; to prevent young teens from having accounts.</p><p>The law, which will come into effect after 12 months, gives few details of how it will be enforced, including how sites like Facebook, Instagram and X will verify users&#x27; ages.</p><p>Musk — who has been named Donald Trump&#x27;s government efficiency chief in the incoming US administration — posted on X last month that the law &quot;seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians&quot;.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/business/2024/11/29/social-media-companies-slam-australia-s-under-16-ban-1017">READ: Social media companies slam Australia&#x27;s under-16 ban</a></div><p>&quot;We will talk to anyone,&quot; Albanese said when asked if he would discuss the legislation with Musk.</p><p>&quot;With regard to Elon Musk, he has an agenda. He&#x27;s entitled to push that as the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter,&quot; Albanese told Australian public broadcaster ABC.</p><p>When the interviewer mentioned that Musk was also Trump&#x27;s &quot;right-hand man&quot;, the prime minister replied: &quot;We will engage, we will engage.&quot;</p><p>Social media firms that fail to comply with the new law face fines of up to Aus$50 million (US$32.5 million) for &quot;systemic breaches&quot;.</p><p>Musk&#x27;s platform in October lost a legal bid to avoid a US$417,000 fine levelled by Australia&#x27;s online watchdog, which has accused X of failing to stamp out harmful posts.</p><div><strong>&#x27;Bullying&#x27;</strong></div><p>The government will decide over the next 12 months how to implement the ban, Albanese said, insisting, however, that it would not require people to provide identification.</p><p>&quot;The obligation will be on social media companies to do everything they can to make sure that those people under 16 don&#x27;t have access to social media,&quot; the prime minister said.</p><p>&quot;We know that social media companies have more information about you and I than some of our friends do,&quot; he added.</p><p>&quot;We know that they are able to do that, and the obligation will be on them.&quot;</p><p>Albanese said he was &quot;determined&quot; to implement the legislation.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;ve met parents who have had to bury their children as a result of the impact that social media has had as a result of bullying, and we need to do something about it,&quot; he said.</p><p>Several social media giants have promised to work with the government on implementing the law.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/07/21/23/more-than-60-of-world-now-on-social-media-study">READ: More than 60% of world now on social media: study</a></div><p>But they have also criticized the legislation, saying it was &quot;rushed&quot;, full of unanswered questions, and did not take into account the views of experts who opposed it.</p><p>The UN children&#x27;s charity UNICEF Australia warned this week that the law was no &quot;silver bullet&quot; against online harm and could push kids into &quot;covert and unregulated&quot; spaces online.</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cRSWLfTkaRI?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>The law, which will come into effect after 12 months, gives few details of how it will be enforced, including how sites like Facebook, Instagram and X will verify users' ages.</p>

The law, which will come into effect after 12 months, gives few details of how it will be enforced, including how sites like Facebook, Instagram and X will verify users' ages.