{"id":32904,"date":"2024-11-29T17:45:48","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T12:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=32904"},"modified":"2024-11-29T17:45:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T12:15:50","slug":"australia-passes-world-first-law-banning-under-16s-from-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/29-11-2024\/australia-passes-world-first-law-banning-under-16s-from-social-media","title":{"rendered":"Australia Passes World-first Law Banning Under-16s From Social Media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS1\/ Social Issue<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Australian Senate passed a law that imposes fines on platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X, and Instagram if they fail to prevent users under the age of 16 from creating accounts.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About the Legislation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Objective: <\/strong>To protect young people from the potential harms of online platforms, such as cyberbullying, addiction, and exposure to harmful content.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Strict Enforcement:<\/strong> Social media platforms will be held accountable for enforcing age restrictions and could face significant fines for non-compliance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges in Banning Social Media<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Privacy Concerns: <\/strong>The law raises concerns about privacy, as platforms may require users to verify their age using government-issued identification.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Challenge of age verification:<\/strong> One of the biggest challenges in implementing these bans is age verification.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Potential for Circumvention:<\/strong> Experts argue that the ban could lead to increased use of anonymous platforms and VPNs, making it difficult to monitor online activity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Exposure to harmful sites: <\/strong>It could inadvertently push young people towards more dangerous online spaces, such as the Dark Web. This further creates more challenges like cybercrimes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Impact of Social Media Addiction on Children<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Psychological Impacts: <\/strong>Excessive social media use has been linked to increased rates of anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Children can be exposed to cyberbullying, which can have severe emotional and psychological consequences like low self esteem.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Physical Impacts:<\/strong> Excessive screen time can lead to a sedentary lifestyle, contributing to obesity and other health problems like eye strain and poor posture.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Social and Emotional Impacts<\/strong>: FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and can hinder the development of face-to-face communication, erosion of real-life relationships and social skills.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Stricter Age Verification: <\/strong>Social media platforms should implement robust age verification systems to ensure that only users who meet the minimum age requirements can access their services.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Parental Consent: <\/strong>Platforms could require parental consent for users below a certain age.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Digital Literacy Education: <\/strong>\u00a0Schools should incorporate digital literacy into their curriculum to teach young people about the responsible use of technology.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Platform-Based Interventions like Time Limits: <\/strong>Social media platforms can implement features that limit screen time, especially for younger users.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Platforms can use AI-powered tools to filter harmful content and promote positive content.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Government Regulations: <\/strong>Strong data privacy laws can protect users&#8217; personal information and prevent data breaches.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Governments can work with social media platforms to develop and enforce stricter content moderation standards.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Digital Detox Camps:<\/strong> Organizing camps to encourage digital detox and promote offline activities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.livemint.com\/news\/world\/australia-becomes-first-country-ban-social-media-for-under-16s-with-landmark-law-opposition-will-cut-off-lgbtqi-anthony-albanese-11732807891365.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LM<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Australian Senate passed a law that imposes fines on platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X, and Instagram if they fail to prevent users under the age of 16 from creating accounts.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32905,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32904\/revisions\/32905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}