Australia has added American proprietary social news aggregation and forum social media platform “Reddit” and a video livestreaming service “Kick” also known as Kick.com to the list of its world-first social media ban for children under 16.
The social media ban is set to take effect from next month.
As per the government officials, the tech companies that fail to administer “reasonable steps” to enforce the ban will face huge fines of up to A$50 million (US$32.5 million).
Anika Wells, Federal Communications Minister, defended this move, declaring online platforms using technology to target children with “chilling control.”
She also described that the government is merely taking these steps to “use that same technology to keep children safe online.”
The list of major banned social media platforms include:
The government officials stated that the nine platforms were added to the ban-list as their “sole or a significant purpose is to enable online social interaction.”
The apps that will still be allowed to host under 16s include:
Despite the strict instructions, the implementation of the ban remains a point of contention.
Critics raise serious concerns about data privacy and accuracy of age-verification software as potential restriction methods including requiring official ID documents or using facial recognition technology.