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Australia plans social media ban for under-16s

The government says it wants to mitigate the "harm" social media is inflicting on children.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the proposed laws, to be tabled in parliament next week, were aimed at mitigating the "harm" social media was inflicting on Australian children. There will be no exemptions on the age limit for children who have consent from their parents, and the government says that the onus will be on social media platforms to show they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access. Previous attempts to enforce bans, including by the European Union, have largely failed or found the implementation challenging given that there are tools which can circumvent age-verification requirements.

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