What apps are getting banned in Australia?<\/a><\/p>\n Ten platforms are included in Australia’s world-first social media ban for under 16s next month.<\/p>\n Europe is now eyeing similar bans, as well as proposals for a late-night “curfew”, curbs on addictive features, and an EU-wide age verification app.<\/p>\n Here’s what’s happening overseas \u2014 and what Australia could learn from it.<\/p>\n Which EU countries already have restrictions in place?<\/p>\n Denmark has already promised to bar under 15s<\/a> from social media unless they have parental consent.<\/p>\n In late November, the European Parliament voted in favour of banning under-16s without parental consent from social media, and an outright ban on under-13s.<\/p>\n The parliament also voted in favour of protecting minors from addictive features such as infinite scrolling, automatic videos, excessive push notifications and rewards for repeated use of a site.<\/p>\n The non-binding resolution came after European Commission (EC) president Ursula von der Leyen praised Australia’s laws<\/a>, telling a United Nations event in September she was “inspired” by Australia’s “bold” move.<\/p>\n “It is obvious this is plain common sense,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n she said.<\/p>\n “We all agree that young people should reach a certain age before they smoke, drink, or access adult content. The same can be said for social media.”<\/p>\n Ms von der Leyen is due to receive expert advice by the year’s end “on the best approach for Europe”.<\/p>\n Italy has laws requiring under-14s on social media to have parental consent, while Spain and Norway have both moved towards rolling out similar restrictions.<\/p>\n In June 2023, France introduced laws requiring platforms to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for users under 15.<\/p>\n And French President Emmanuel Macron has recently promised his government will ban all under-15s from social media if progress isn’t made at the EU level.<\/p>\n Emmanuel Macron wants to ban French children under the age of 15 from social media. (Reuters: Jean-Christophe Verhaegen)<\/p>\n French parliamentarians have also proposed an overnight “digital curfew” for 15 to 18-year-olds, while French prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into TikTok over claims it exposes children to content that promotes suicide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lisa Given, an RMIT professor specialising in age assurance technology, says while Australia was the first country to legislate an outright ban on under-16s using social media, other jurisdictions had “been toying with different solutions” in recent years.<\/p>\n “Many, many countries in the world are really watching us closely to see if the social media restrictions that we’re putting in place are going to be something they could replicate or adapt to their own context,” she said.<\/p>\n How Europe is developing its own age verification app<\/p>\n The EC has been working with five countries \u2014 Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain \u2014 on developing an age verification app.<\/p>\n The aim is to allow users to prove their age through an official EU-wide app<\/a> without giving sensitive information to social platforms, unlike Australia’s approach.<\/p>\n Professor Given says the Australian government has left age-assurance checks “in the hands of tech companies”.<\/p>\n Lisa Given says there are privacy concerns around how social media platforms will verify their users’ ages. (ABC News: Patrick Stone)<\/p>\n “Having government oversight around the interventions that are going to be used to ensure that companies are complying with privacy legislation is really critical,” she said.<\/p>\n “Many individuals, including parents, will be quite concerned about what technologies the companies are using for age assurance.<\/p>\n “Do these raise any risks around privacy? If information is being stored or shared about their children as part of the age assurance process, is that data going to be safe?”<\/p>\n Cybersecurity experts have raised the alarm with Snapchat’s approach to verifying Australian users’ ages,<\/a> which includes sending a selfie or government-issued ID to a third-party platform.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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