Elon Musk spoke out against Australia’s intentions to ban social networks for children
The American billionaire and owner of the social platform X (formerly Twitter) Elon Musk expressed his strong dissatisfaction with the draft law proposed by Australia, which prohibits the use of social networks for children under the age of 16.
“This appears to be a covert way of controlling internet access for all Australians”, — said Musk.
As informs Reuters, the bill would introduce an age-verification system for access to social media, as well as hefty fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($32 million) for companies that violate the rules. The restrictions apply to all accounts, including those that already exist, and allow no exceptions, even with parental consent.
Similar initiatives have been discussed in other countries: in France, it was proposed to ban access to social networks for persons younger than 15, but with the possibility of parental permission, and in the United States there is a rule that requires parental consent to collect data of children under 13.
Elon Musk, who often appears as a defender of freedom of speech, has already had conflicts with the Australian authorities. He previously called the Labor government “fascist” over their anti-disinformation law. In April, X sued Australia’s cyber regulator over demands to remove posts related to the attack on a bishop in Sydney. This prompted a sharp reaction from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who called Musk an “arrogant billionaire.”
The proposed bill sparked a heated debate about the need to protect children online and the right to free access to digital platforms. This issue is expected to be the subject of further debate both in Parliament and among the public.
