Australia became the first major nation to ban social media for children under the age of 16 this week, a move many believe will be the direction other countries will soon follow.
“Australia is set to become the first country to implement a minimum age for social media use on Wednesday, with platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube forced to block more than a million accounts, marking the beginning of an expected global wave of regulation,” reports CNBC.
Beginning at midnight, 10 of the planet’s largest platforms will be required to ban users whose accounts are registered to people under the age of 16. Those who violate the new law will be fined up to $33 million US-dollars.
“While Australia is the first to adopt such restrictions, it is unlikely to be the last,” said Tama Leaver, a professor of internet studies at Curtin University.
“Governments around the world are watching how the power of Big Tech was successfully taken on. The social media ban in Australia … is very much the canary in the coal mine.”
Read the full report here.