Sen. Brian Schatz is praising the United Kingdom for its move to ban access to social media for children under the age of 16. Schatz is the lead author of a bipartisan bill that would set a minimum age of 13 to use social media. Restrictions like these started with first adopters in the Asia Pacific.
When it comes to social media, Australia is already living with what the U.K. is now just planning.
This past December, Australia became the first country to apply a nationwide ban on social media for children — down under, the restrictions apply to anyone under 16.
Heavy financial penalties for violations are targeted at specific social media companies which do not take reasonable steps to prevent those under 16 from having access to their accounts.
The “Australia Model” has been used as a basis for similar bans, including in Asia. Nearly three months ago, Indonesia adopted a similar policy for those under 16.
Two weeks ago, Malaysia installed its own restrictions on social media use for the same age group. Enforcement has been raised as a challenging issue in each country.
While concerns about negative impacts of social media use are widespread, some countries are being more cautious in their approaches to dealing with the issue.
Singapore's Minister of State for Digital Development and Information told reporters last month, “We do have safeguards in place and we do not think just rushing into having a ban may necessarily be the best thing.”
