Australia's under-16s social media ban comes into effect | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube, where we go behind the. headlines to find out more about a story. and why it matters. Today, millions of. Australian schoolchildren under the age. of 16 have lost access to their social. media accounts after a world-first ban. came into force. This includes. Instagram, Facebook, Threads, X, Snapchat, Kick, Twitch, TikTok, Reddit, and YouTube. We're joined by our. technology correspondent Chris Vallance.

Chris, tell us how this legislation came. about and how will it work? Well, this legislation was introduced. really with cross-party support in. Australia. It's just come into force and. essentially what it says is that. under 16-year-olds should not be able to. use. 10 platforms. They are eight of the. biggest social media platforms, so we're. talking about Facebook, Instagram,

YouTube, Reddit, X, Snapchat, so on, and. two streaming platforms, Kick and Twitch. And essentially it says. if these platforms don't take reasonable. steps to keep under 16-year-olds off. their services, then eventually they. could face big fines. We're talking. about around 50 million Australian. dollars, about 33. million US dollars. Of course, critics.

look at that and say that's a parking. fine, if you like, for some of these. multi-multi-billion-dollar. businesses. But, the Australian. authorities see it as, if you like, the. first domino toppling. So, they they. they sort of acknowledge, if you like, that there's a way to go and the list of. services covered could expand. Chris, you're a technology correspondent. Explain to me, on a technical level, how. is this going to work? How will it know. what age you are? Well, in a sense, some of these social.

media platforms already know a great. deal about their users. They collect an awful lot of data, not. least when you first sign up, which is a. clue in itself. So, their approach is. really, I mean, they differ platform to. platform, right? The law doesn't specify. how exactly you do this. Reasonable. steps can include, and I think this is. true of most of the platforms, either, if you like, inference. So, they know. stuff about you. They know who your. friends are. They know when you log in. And use that to deduce that you are over.

16 or under 16. Or they'll use things. like, you know, age assurance from maybe a. photograph or, you know, a webcam where. you're looking at people's facial. characteristics or from your voice and. other technologies to try and. prove who you are. So, there's a variety. of methods adopted. Critics point out that they are all. vulnerable to circumvention. Certainly,

there are lots of stories around of. people using, for example, photographs of. grown-up celebrities, if you like, to. get round. some age verification technologies. I. think the point of view from the from. the government is as long as this works. for most people, for the majority of. young people, then that's good and. that's a step forward. But, as you say, teenagers, in my experience, are pretty. good at getting round these things and. and not necessarily by circumventing the.

technology, but they'll just find. another platform. And, for example, I. don't think WhatsApp's included, is it? No, WhatsApp isn't included, nor are. some pretty prominent gaming platforms, nor is Discord, although it does do some. age checks of its own. So, you know, yes, there is the rest of the. internet not circumscribed by those 10. platforms already mentioned, which is. available to. Australian teenagers. So, yes, they may. well go to other platforms and critics.

point out these platforms may devote. less resources to making sure that. people are safe on their platforms. So, certainly circumvention, as you say, not by technical means, never mind technical means, it is an. issue. But again, you know, you look at. the platforms, you look at the user. numbers. This is certainly going to, you. know, affect a big chunk of Australian. teenagers. So, you know, I think the.

figures are around about a million. Nine. of the platforms have said they're going. to comply, but there is one notable. exception, isn't there? X. Yeah, I think, you know, it's difficult with X because there is. some disconnect between, if you like, the public face and what they do in. private. We've seen a little bit of that. in um in in the with regard to online. safety in the UK, but certainly Elon. Musk has been a big critic of online.

regulation generally and has pushed back. against some of it, particularly, you know, some of it which. he regards as censorship. We'll wait and. see. We'll see what the Australian. e-safety commissioner makes of X's. position and we'll wait and see, I. think, what X's position actually turns. out to be. It's been quite interesting. listening to supporters of this. legislation. The some of the comments. have reminded me of. It's of archive footage from the 1950s,

sort of telling teenagers that they. should be outside playing sport and. reading books. Yes, there is Yes, there. was certainly the Prime Minister's. Anthony Albanese's. sort of message to Australian youth was. a bit like that, wasn't it? There were. shades of sort of. things your mom used to tell you, or my. mom used to tell me, anyway, because I'm. obviously quite a bit older. There is a I think there is a sense of. some resentment amongst Australian. teenagers that perhaps a generation that.

didn't grow up with social media has. decided they're better off doing. something else. And, you know, those outdoor activities, we should. point out, are not without risk as well. I mean, riding a bicycle is risky. Using. a skateboard is risky. Social media may. well be risky in different ways and in. serious ways, but. you know, all these activities carry. risk with them. I guess the point, the motive behind. this has been the concerns that there.

have been around the world about things. like cyberbullying, grooming, encountering. content that is is harmful, maybe. encouraging people to self-harm or to. you know, develop eating disorders. So, this is. all This is all These are all issues. that have been active around the world. Yeah, and you raise an interesting point. there because Australia is is a. world-first here. It's the first country. to implement this sort of ban. There. will be people watching this all over.

the world, won't there? And and and, you. know, maybe other bans could follow. Yeah, indeed. I mean, I think, you know, you can look at various jurisdictions. within Europe and say that there have. been steps towards this. And you can. look at France, Denmark, Spain, Germany, the European Parliament. There was a. vote in support of a sort of similar. measure. I mean, a lot of those include. exemptions for, you know, people over 13 who get. parental consent to access social. platforms. So, they're not quite. identical. In the UK, we've seen.

big campaigns, very vocal campaigns to, you know, not not allow people under 16. to to access social media on on on. smartphones. So, there's certainly some. momentum behind this. I mean, there is. also some criticism and criticism, I. think, from interesting quarters. We've. seen in the UK some children's charities. issue statements today saying, "Look, it's up This This doesn't address the. core problem, which is that these social.

media companies have failed to make. their products safe for children. And a. better solution that doesn't deprive. children of all the benefits of social. media is for them to make their products. safe.". Last [snorts] question, Chris. What. would success look like? What would be. the best measure of success here? I think there will be lots or lots of. learned. people, lots of academics, lots of.

researchers pouring over what happens. I. mean, I think this this legislation, like a lot of legislation, has been. propelled by some very tragic cases of. that of of children that have died and. where parents have. have, you know, said what they. experienced online was a big contributor. to that. Um I think, looking at it. broadly and, you know, perhaps, in a sort of quantitative way, people.

will want to see an improvement in in, if you like, well-being. That can be. linked to this. I think that, you know, in the end, this. is all about the well-being of. teenagers. So, I suspect, for a lot of. people, that will be the litmus test. Thanks, Chris. And you can hear more on. that story on the Global News podcast. Subscribe wherever you get your BBC. podcasts. You can also, if you like this. episode, subscribe to us here on. YouTube. And if you have an idea for a. story you think we ought to cover, do.

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