SYDNEY (Reuters) – U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, proprietor of social media platform X, has criticised Australia’s proposed regulation to ban social media for kids beneath 16 and positive social media platforms of as much as A$49.5 million ($32 million) for corporations for systemic breaches.
Australia’s centre-left authorities on Thursday launched the invoice in parliament. It plans to strive an age-verification system to implement a social media age cut-off, among the hardest controls imposed by any nation up to now.
“Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians,” Musk, who views himself as a champion of free speech, mentioned in a reply late on Thursday to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s put up on X concerning the invoice.
A number of nations have already vowed to curb social media use by youngsters via laws, however Australia’s coverage may turn out to be probably the most stringent with no exemption for parental consent and pre-existing accounts.
France final 12 months proposed a ban on social media for these beneath 15 however allowed parental consent, whereas the U.S. has for many years required know-how corporations to hunt parental consent to entry the info of youngsters beneath 13.
Musk has beforehand clashed with Australia’s centre-left Labor authorities over its social media insurance policies and had referred to as it “fascists” over its misinformation regulation.
In April, X went to an Australian court docket to problem a cyber regulator’s order for the elimination of some posts concerning the stabbing of a bishop in Sydney, prompting Albanese to name Musk an “arrogant billionaire”.
($1 = 1.5359 Australian {dollars})
