<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/nov/26/australia-social-media-ban-expert>
"A dominant theme of the hastily written submissions to the federal
government’s one-day review of its social-media ban bill is that the process is
far too rushed to consider its wide-ranging effects on all Australians.
A year from now, every Australian logging on to Facebook, Instagram or TikTok
may be confronted with a prompt that the company is requiring you to prove your
age.
But even that is just speculation.
The bill that was introduced into parliament last week, and sent off to a
committee for a single day – receiving over 15,000 submissions – contains no
details about how it will work, only that the companies will be expected to
take reasonable steps to ensure users are aged 16 and over.
The actual detail will come later, through the completion of a trial of
age-assurance technology in mid-2025. Then, through expansive powers, the
minister for communications will determine what methods will be used and to
which platforms they’re applied.
Michelle Rowland’s Labor predecessor in the communications portfolio, Stephen
Conroy, once said he had “unfettered legal power” and could make
telecommunications companies “wear red underpants on [their] head” if he
wanted. The social media sector might wonder if this is where these new powers
may go.
Elon Musk’s X has warned that these new powers could be weaponised by a
minister, and could limit free speech. X and the Human Rights Law Centre have
both raised questions over the lawfulness of the bill.
We’re told in media interviews which platforms are in and which are out – such
as YouTube – but that will be up to the minister to decide at a later date.
The government has been at pains to say people won’t be required to prove their
age via the government’s new digital ID, or that they will be required to hand
over licences or passports to every social media platform. But there’s nothing
in the legislation today preventing that."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
