Tech giants are wary of a social media age limit, saying it shouldn’t be up to them to enforce the rules but rather app stores to ensure safety across the board.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram argues against putting the onus on social media companies to enforce a proposed 16-year-old age limit, saying the technology for a perfect solution “isn’t quite there yet”.
Parents and young people would carry the burden if each app needed to implement its own age controls, Meta’s Australia and New Zealand policy director Mia Garlick said.
“We completely agree that there needs to be age-appropriate experiences for young people on services like the ones we provide,” she told ABC radio on Friday.
“The challenge is, the technology isn’t quite there yet in terms of having a perfect solution.”
App stores putting in place controls meant that information could be extrapolated, Ms Garlick said.
“When you get a new phone or a new device, you do spend a bit of time sitting down as a family, setting it all up,” she said.
“Age information is collected at that time and so there is a really simple solution there, that at that one point in time … verification can occur.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will host a virtual national cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders on Friday to sign off on the age limit, with legislation to be introduced in coming weeks.
It was important the perfect does not become the enemy of the good, researcher Samuel Cornell said.
Social media was a driver of risky behaviour for children and had previously led to deaths after attempts 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.
“To throw our hands up in the air is not right,” Mr Cornell said.
Social media companies need to be held accountable for their services, cabinet minister Bill Shorten said, as he flagged further work in the field including a duty of care.
“We don’t ask civilians and car users to bring their own seat belt to a car, so why should social media companies buck pass their own duty of care?” he said.
But there are concerns a social media ban would likely give parents a false sense of security while excluding young people from critical information.
Platforms play a critical role in young people engaging with education, potential employers, health services and personal networks of people with shared interests, RMIT Professor of Information Sciences Lisa Given said.
“They may be grappling with many different issues in their lives, without access to appropriate supports at home or in their communities,” she said.
Ms Garlick defended accusations the tech giant was trying to pass the buck and protect profits.
Meta already implemented safety controls such as asking people their age at sign-up and using artificial intelligence to identify if people’s age appears different from what they stated, she said.
“We remove people who are under the relevant age and then we also age-gate certain types of content that might not be suitable,” she said.
Ms Garlick pointed to an Instagram initiative that automatically puts young people on an age-appropriate account that has some limitations.
Meta wouldn’t fight and run a campaign against the laws if they passed parliament, she said.
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By Dominic Giannini and Tess Ikonomou in Canberra
