Reddit to be captured under social media ban for kids
Children will also be banned from accessing Reddit and livestreaming platform Kick when Australia’s social media age restrictions come into force.
Children under 16 will be excluded from social platforms from December 10, except for health and education services, including WhatsApp and Meta’s Messenger Kids.
The Albanian government announced that the worldwide reforms will also apply to Reddit and Kick.
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube and X are among the platforms that must take “reasonable steps” to prevent those under 16 from having accounts.
Tech giants that fail to do so will face fines of up to $49.5 million.
Social media users cannot be forced to provide government-issued identification as the only method of proving their age online and should be provided with other options.
The law obliges tech companies to “identify and disable or remove” accounts of underage users.
As a result, approximately 1.5 million accounts on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Threads and X will be disabled in less than two months.
e-Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant previously wrote to Reddit and other platforms, asking them to evaluate whether they would be caught under the ban.
Communications Minister Anika Wells said she spoke to major social media platforms last month so they “understand there is no excuse for failure to enforce this law.”
“ESafety evaluated eight platforms as requiring age restrictions, but evaluations will continue and this list is dynamic,” he said.
“We’re not after perfection. We’re after meaningful difference.”
Ms Grant encouraged parents and young people to download the commission’s resources and sign up for a live webinar where questions about social media age restrictions can be answered.
“Delaying children’s access to social media accounts gives them valuable time to learn and grow, free from the powerful, unseen forces of opaque algorithms and endless scrolling,” he said.
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