Australia is banning young teens from social media. Could it happen in the US?

New York CNN A world-first ban on major social media platforms for children under the age of goes into effect in Australia on Wednesday And regulators parents and teenagers around the globe are watching closely to see how it plays out The law comes after years of concerns that social media platforms can cause addiction body image issues depression and other mental wellbeing issues for teens as well as potentially exposing them to bullying or sexual exploitation Two Australian teens have already sued to block the law claiming it violates their rights to political expression And other critics have raised free speech and privacy concerns Still Denmark and Malaysia are similarly planning to ban young teens from social media In the United States chosen lawmakers and political leaders have also advocated for more restrictive policies Which begs the question Could a social media ban for young teens happen here This is a hugely key test scenario revealed Michael Posner director of the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights If it succeeds then I think a number of states a number of governments are going to say Wow look what they did in Australia Here s what we know What s the Australia social media ban The Australia law directs a group of popular social media apps designated as age-restricted social media platforms to verify users ages and take policies to remove and block children under starting on December If they don t they could face millions of dollars in fines The list of affected apps includes Snapchat Facebook Instagram Kick Reddit Threads TikTok Twitch X and YouTube Other platforms such as Roblox and Discord are not at this moment subject to the law although they could be added A great number of of the designated platforms have pushed back saying they already have efforts in place to protect young users But most of say they ll take approaches to block children under Teens who use these platforms won t face consequences if they flout the ban for example by using a VPN to make it appear that they re accessing the apps from another country How do tech companies verify users ages To comply with Australia s law platforms are verifying users ages with official documents or by using AI systems that estimate a user s age by scanning their face on camera Last year Australia conducted a government-funded investigation testing age verification methods which convinced executives that it could be done without compromising privacy Such AI age estimation tools have raised accuracy concerns when deployed elsewhere In the UK teens reportedly used the faces of video championship characters to avoid age gates when specific platforms tried to verify their ages Critics have also stated these systems raise privacy issues for all users who will have to provide biometric information or other sensitive information even if they re above For example various users protested when YouTube disclosed this year that it would start using AI to detect users ages in the United States in a bid to protect children They didn t like the idea of having to hand over an ID or face scan if they were wrongly identified as a teen In Australia platforms will be required to delete users input after verifying their ages Could a teen social media ban happen in the US While none go as far as Australia s ban a growing number of US states have passed restrictions on teens access to social media or other internet services Nebraska s governor for example signed a bill into law this year that requires social media platforms to verify users ages and get parental consent before minors can create accounts The law goes into effect in July Utah Texas and Louisiana passed laws this year requiring app store operators to verify users ages and obtain parental consent for new downloads and updates Social media companies including Meta have advocated for that strategy because it centralizes responsibility for age verification with the app stores However Google and Apple argue that it requires them to collect too much information from adult users The Supreme Court also upheld a Texas law that requires age verification for pornographic websites The move suggested the court isn t necessarily opposed to several online age restrictions despite a legal challenge from the adult industry that claimed it violated the Constitution because it limited the ability of adults to access protected speech And various have proposed going farther Rahm Emanuel the former chief of staff for President Barack Obama who has indicated he s considering a presidential run mentioned Tuesday that the United States should also block children under from social media Still a federal agenda in the United States seems unlikely given Congress inability to agree on and pass other social media and youth safety-related measure Any such strategy would also likely face First Amendment challenges Big Tech would fight a national ban with all its lobbying might and the Trump Administration only seems interested in loosening the reins on tech platforms noted Alex Pascal executive director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University Still he reported the popular tide in America has definitely turned against the platforms and I would expect to see increasing action by more states before to tackle the ills of social media for young people How are apps protecting kids in the US Social media companies have already taken actions to protect children in the United States separate from any regulation but under pressure from advocates and parents who have raised alarms about online harms to kids These features included take a break reminders content restrictions and parental controls More in recent weeks a great number of platforms have begun using AI to try to determine the ages of users regardless of the birthdate they signed up with to place them in more protected settings Instagram for example rolled out teen accounts last year relying on personal attestations as well as AI estimation of user ages This year it aligned teen accounts restrictions with PG- movie ratings Following YouTube s move to use AI to guess users ages OpenAI stated in September it was building AI age prediction hardware into ChatGPT in addition to parental controls it plans to roll out next year And Roblox last month reported it would require all users to verify their age with an ID or face scan in order to access chat features following a string of lawsuits alleging the platform has enabled sexual predators to connect with children These moves could potentially help tech firms thwart additional US regulations or ensure they have the apparatus to comply with new requirements if they re passed If Australia s under- ban proves productive tech companies may be on the hook to make greater changes in more countries including in the United States The-CNN-Wire Cable News Arrangement Inc a Warner Bros Discovery Company All rights reserved Source