As teens flee to apps like Yope and Lemon8, Anika Wells says she’ll ban those too
Communications Minister Anika Wells said social media companies should be prepared for $50 million fines if they fail to kick children off their platforms within six months, but acknowledged that some children will continue to access their accounts in the meantime, while others will turn to new apps.
Wells also said he would not hesitate to ban additional tech platforms if trends continue to show increased downloads of alternative social media apps like Yope and Lemon8.
Anika Wells sets expectations for the first day of the government’s social media ban.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
As the Albanian government prepares to review the under-16 social media ban when it comes into effect on December 10, Wells will address the National Press Club on Wednesday to temper expectations for the first few months.
“The question you’re all eagerly awaiting the answer to: Who will get the first $50 million fine on December 10? The bureaucrats in the room will support me here – but regulation rarely works quickly, and it’s certainly not that fast,” he will say in his speech.
The e-Security Commission will send a notice to the 10 technology companies on the ban list next week, asking how many accounts they registered with minors on December 9, before the law started, and how many accounts remained on December 11, the day after the ban started.
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Snapchat, for example, told the Senate it estimated it had 440,000 underage users, while TikTok had 200,000. “These platforms will have time to respond before the next requests for information are sent out requesting updated figures every month for six months,” Wells will say.
“The government recognizes that it may take several days or even weeks for age assurance to be completed fairly and accurately. However, if eSafety detects systematic violations of the law, platforms will face fines of up to $49.5 million.”
There are approximately 2.5 million children aged eight to 15 in Australia, according to 2021 census data, and the government estimates that 86 per cent of people in this age group use social media.
