Australians are being urged to confront the impact of the harm social media causes on children, but experts are divided over a blanket ban.
Tech giants are wary of the age limit on social media and say it shouldn’t be up to them to enforce the rules, but up to app stores to ensure safety across the board.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram opposes putting the onus on social media companies to enforce the proposed 16-year-old age limit, saying the technology for a perfect solution “hasn’t gotten to that point yet.”
Parents and young people would bear the burden if each app needed to implement its own age controls, said Mia Garlick, Meta’s policy director for Australia and New Zealand.
“We totally agree that there needs to be age-appropriate experiences for young people in services like the ones we offer,” he told ABC radio on Friday.
“The challenge is that the technology is not there yet in terms of having a perfect solution.”
App stores that implemented controls allowed information to be extrapolated, Garlick said.
“When you get a new phone or a new device, you spend a little bit of time sitting down as a family, setting everything up,” he said.
Meta’s policy director for Australia and New Zealand, Mia Garlick (left), said the perfect solution is not yet ready.
Michelle Rowland and Anthony Albanese backed his age limit proposal on social media
“The age information is collected at that time, so there is a really simple solution: at that time… verification can occur.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will host a virtual national cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders on Friday to approve the age limit, with legislation set to be introduced in the coming weeks.
It was important that the perfect not become the enemy of the good, said researcher Samuel Cornell.
Social media was a driver of risky behavior for children and had previously caused deaths after trying to copy viral challenges, he said.
“I don’t think it’s a perfect solution, but harm is being caused to children and young people,” he told AAP.
“Putting your hands in the air is not cool,” Cornell said.
Social media companies must be held to account for their services, Cabinet Minister Bill Shorten said, while pointing out that more work will be done in the field, including on duty of care.
“We don’t ask civilians or car users to wear their own seatbelts to the car, so why should social media companies ignore their own duty of care?” said.
But there are concerns that a social media ban is likely to give parents a false sense of security and exclude young people from critical information.
Platforms play a vital role in enabling young people to engage with education, potential employers, health services and personal networks of people with shared interests, said Lisa Given, Professor of Information Sciences at RMIT.
The government is pushing to pass laws prohibiting teenagers under 16 from using social media.
“They may be dealing with many different problems in their lives, without access to adequate support in their homes or in their communities,” she said.
Garlick defended accusations that the tech giant was trying to pass the buck and protect profits.
Meta has already implemented safety controls, such as asking people their age when registering and using artificial intelligence to identify if people’s age appears different from what they said, he said.
“We remove people who are under the appropriate age and then we also monitor certain types of content that might not be appropriate,” he said.
Garlick pointed to an Instagram initiative that automatically places young people on an age-appropriate account, which has some limitations.
Meta would not fight or campaign against the laws if they were passed by parliament, he said.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800 (for people from 5 to 25 years old)
