MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Instead of being hurried through the Parliament this week, a representative for major social media platforms told an Australian Senate committee Monday that legislation banning children under the age of sixteen from the sites should be postponed until at least next year.
At a one-day Senate committee hearing on world-first legislation that was introduced into the Parliament last week, Sunita Bose, managing director of Digital Industry Group Inc., an advocate for the digital industry in Australia that includes X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, was fielding questions.
Bose advised the Parliament to hold off until June, when the government-commissioned assessment of age assurance technologies is finished.
According to Bose, Parliament is being asked to approve a law this week without knowing how it will operate.
Under the law, platforms that fail to prevent young children from opening accounts might face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million).
With the backing of the main parties, it appears certain that Parliament will approve it by Thursday.
A year after the measure is signed into law, it will go into force, giving the platforms time to develop technological solutions that safeguard user privacy.
Several senators questioned Bose in a hostile manner and questioned the veracity of her responses.
Despite Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube having a minimum age limit of 13, opposition senator Ross Cadell questioned how his 10-year-old stepson managed to maintain accounts from the age of 8.
Bose retorted that the industry needs to do better in this area.
According to her, the planned social media ban could cause some kids to become isolated and lead them to use less secure, darker online environments than popular ones.
Bose stated that she was worried that the new law may jeopardize the safety of youth, which infuriated opposition Senator Sarah Henderson.
That is a ridiculous claim. Henderson said that you were attempting to defend the large IT companies.
Not aligned Sen. Jacqui Lambie questioned why the platforms didn’t employ their algorithms to stop minors from seeing hazardous content. The algorithms have been accused of exposing users to hazardous content that encourages eating disorders and suicide, as well as of keeping children who are addicted to technology linked to platforms.
Your platforms are capable of doing so. According to Lambie, their avarice and self-interest are the only things preventing them.
Bose said that technologies that screen out nudity were already in place to protect children online.
According to Bose, we must see ongoing investment in algorithms and make sure they are better able to handle hazardous content.
Sen. Dave Sharma of the opposition questioned Bose, who stated she was unaware of the amount of money the platforms she represented received from Australian youngsters in the form of advertising.
According to a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study, X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat generated $11 billion in advertising revenue from American users under the age of 18 in 2022. She claimed she was unaware of this information.
Sarah Vandenbroek, a communications department official, informed the committee that the examination of age assurance systems, which will report in June, will evaluate their security and privacy settings in addition to their correctness.
Before suggesting the age restriction, officials canvassed widely, according to Department Deputy Secretary James Chisholm.
Chisholm informed the committee, “We believe it’s a good idea and it can be done.”
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