JAKARTA/VIENNA: Austria's plans to introduce a ban on social media use for children under 14 while Indonesia's social media curbs kick off on Saturday
Austria's Cabinet members from the three ruling parties announced a deal between them on the principle of a ban, aimed at protecting children from "algorithms that are addictive" and content including sexual abuse, but could not say when it would begin and they have yet to agree on how it will be implemented.
"We will decisively protect children and young people in future from the negative effects of social media", Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler of the Social Democrats said.
"We will no longer stand by and watch while these platforms make our children addicted and often also sick... The risks associated with this use were ignored for long enough and now it is time to act", he added.
Australia introduced a social media ban for under-16s in December, the first country to do so. Various countries are considering or moving towards similar bans. France's lower house of parliament approved a ban for under-15s in January.
Draft legislation for Austria's ban would be drawn up by the end of June, Babler and conservative junior minister for digitisation Alexander Proell said.
Earlier this month Meutya Hafid, Indonesia's communications and digital minister, said the deactivation of current accounts of under-16s would take place gradually from Saturday.
She did not go into detail and the timeline, as well as the criteria for deactivation, remain unclear. Officials at the ministry did not respond to requests for comment on details of the deactivation.
High-risk platforms must adjust their minimum age and deactivate accounts of underage users, as well as independently determine the risks they pose, according to a ministerial decree published this week.
Platforms are determined high risk if they fulfil criteria such as the possibility of talking to strangers, addictive qualities and psychological risks, the ministry said. — Agencies
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
