Australia’s new Digital Duty of Care law would require social media companies to take proactive steps to address mental health risks for users, particularly children, online.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-13/social-media-duty-of-care-laws-mental-health-harm/104597890?ref=platformer.news

Online platforms would be legally responsible for keeping Australians safe under new 'duty of care' laws

Australia’s new Digital Duty of Care law would require social media companies to take proactive steps to address mental health risks for users, particularly children, online.  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-11-13/social-media-duty-of-care-laws-mental-health-harm/104597890?ref=platformer.news

Sam Mendoza

that's the key question - how exactly Australia plans to enforce the law is very unclear, particularly as it says social media companies can’t require state IDs as an age verification tool. If politicians are as worried about kids’ safety online as they claim to be, they wouldn’t make it difficult for social media firms to verify ages.

How will the law will be enforced? Age-verification is a polarizing issue among U.S. tech companies: Meta Platforms has argued that app store providers like Apple and Google should be responsible for determining how old app users are, while Apple has argued that platforms and websites are better positioned to shoulder such responsibility.

Tasia

Cyril

Whoa! Australia is a relatively small country whose revenue contribution to Meta Platforms, Snap or TikTok is likely minuscule. But investors have to consider the possibility that the land Down Under is the canary in the coal mine of social media regulation.

After all, the Australian law is a more aggressive variation on laws passed by many U.S. states over the past couple of years, all aimed at protecting children from the worst of social media. The U.S. state laws vary widely: some states, such as Tennessee, require social media firms to verify that parents consent to their children having an account. Age verification, to ensure social media firms know when a child holds an account, is becoming more common. (Here’s a summary of state laws, passed and pending https://www.ncsl.org/technology-and-communication/social-media-and-children-2024-legislation)

Whoa! Australia is a relatively small country whose revenue contribution to Meta Platforms, Snap or TikTok is likely minuscule. But investors have to consider the possibility that the land Down Under is the canary in the coal mine of social media regulation.  After all, the Australian law is a more aggressive variation on laws passed by many U.S. states over the past couple of years, all aimed at protecting children from the worst of social media. The U.S. state laws vary widely: some states, such as Tennessee, require social media firms to verify that parents consent to their children having an account. Age verification, to ensure social media firms know when a child holds an account, is becoming more common. (Here’s a summary of state laws, passed and pending https://www.ncsl.org/technology-and-communication/social-media-and-children-2024-legislation)

Jerome Cody

Tech companies have to prepare for the possibility that Australian-style bans could spread to other countries. That would be particularly damaging for Snap, whose Snapchat app skews younger than those of other social media firms. But it wouldn’t be good for TikTok, Meta or even Reddit either. If nothing else, the Australian law adds to a growing assembly of international regulations that threaten to mire tech firms in an ever expanding bureaucratic bog. While engineers are tech’s most valuable source of talent today, one day soon lawyers may take precedence.

Australia bans kid social media.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/australia-passes-social-media-ban-children-under-16-2024-11-28/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter-20241129

Australia bans kid social media.  https://www.reuters.com/technology/australia-passes-social-media-ban-children-under-16-2024-11-28/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter-20241129

Sam Mendoza

A group of likeminded people in Digital Wellness 📱🧘 are talking about this.