The Australian government will consider a new bill that would force social media companies to Obtaining parental consent for users under the age of 16, face hefty fines if caught.
Effective enforcement seems largely impossible, but the bill stipulates that social media apps “must take all reasonable steps to determine the age of users and prioritize children’s interests when collecting data”.
This leaves a lot of leeway, as “reasonable” seems to be quite broad in this context. Still, the new enforcement initiative could strengthen Australia’s social media regulations and make it one of the toughest regions in the world for age control if implemented.
As per Reuters:
“The new law would increase penalties for anyone violating the Code, with fines equal to either 10% of the company’s annual domestic sales, three times the financial benefit of the violation, or A $ 10 million ($ 7.5 million). The current maximum fine is AUD 2.1 million. “
The move comes in the wake of current reports, based on Facebook’s own research showing Instagram can have a significant impact on the mental health of young users, a finding that various other independent studies have also derived.
Facebook has refuted such claimsHowever, it should be noted that the research mentioned was based only on responses from 40 users and was not used as a general guide. But amid the broader narrative that Facebook often prioritizes growth over everything else, it’s not a good look for The Social Network, and more regulatory initiatives like this could gain momentum in the months ahead.
Which could have a huge impact on how Facebook and social media platforms work in general. When social apps are forced to take stricter measures and face such hefty fines, everyone will have to reassess the viability of their apps in these markets, some of which could even be removed from certain regions.
To be clear, neither Facebook nor any other platform has gone that far, but Facebook has Deactivate news pages completely published on its platform earlier this year in response to another Australian government initiative, and if the rules on what to do “take all reasonable steps” in this context actually make the enforcement effort more complex than it is worth, we could Again, some companies are considering removing certain items to avoid risk.
In a broader sense, it will also be interesting to see the actual details of the Australian proposal and how they can be applied in other regions. Governments and regulators around the world are now looking into Facebook and its implications for the latest knowledge about its effect now visible to all.
Will that lead to stricter regulation?
I mean the real question is what is the alternative? It is one thing to say “Facebook is bad, someone should do something about it” and another to make effective rules.
This is another reason why proposals like this are interesting in that they put Facebook’s guidelines and processes to the test. And while most of these advances eventually fizzle out or merge into a less impactful settlement, the momentum for such decisions seems to be more swaying against The Social Network.