Australia is setting the precedent, banning social media for children under 16. The Australian Senate passed the ban on Thursday, which is set to become a world-first law. It could become a model for other jurisdictions, such as Quebec, which is strongly considering following suit.
The provincial government decided last spring to study the possibility of setting a minimum age for social media accounts to combat the mental health impacts of social media use among young people. It has seen its fair share of pushback. "Social media is not, by definition, 100 per cent negative," said technology analyst Carmi Levy.
"There are valid reasons for kids to be using them." He adds it's healthy for the province to be discussing this, but doesn't think it's a realistic possibility. "It has been the domain of federal governments to introduce legislation like this, and I do hope that Quebec's initiative serves as a signal to Ottawa to do the same thing at a federal level.
" The Australian law will make platforms including TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and X (formerly Twitter) liable for fines of up to $50 million AUD ($45 million CAD) for failing to prevent children younger than 16 from holding accounts. Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat currently require users to be at least 13 years old. "This puts big tech companies on notice.
The way they do business and the way they particularly treat children needs to change," said Levy. "They're going to need to invest in some very signif.
