It’s Official: Can’t Use Social Media If You’re Under 16

Due to the excessive graphic content that is in circulation on social media, several developed countries have been taking strong measures to mitigate younger users from socials. Strong measures are being taken to make sure younger kids don’t get exposed to the adulterated content on social platforms. 

In this context, something very interesting as happened now as Australia has become the first country to ban social media for users under 16 years.

The Australian Parliament has legislative bill that ban social media platforms from allowing users under 16 years of age. Ten of the biggest social media platforms that are in operation in Australia have been instructed with immediate effect to block all users under age 16. 

This is a very progressive decision taken by Australian Parliament, considering the influence of social platforms and the content here on the younger generation. 

Incidentally, even United States of America has been pushing to regulate the kind of content that is being displayed for the younger generations. And now, Australia has set a new precedent by asking all social platforms to ban users under 16. 

It needs to be seen if more countries would follow this regulation in the near future. When it comes to India, there is no specified or regulated age limit, but the rule on paper is that verifiable parental consent is needed for users under 18 to process their data on social media. But this regulation is largely flouted on a daily basis.