Elon Musk criticizes Australia’s planned social media ban for children

SYDNEY (Reuters) – U.S. billionaire Elon Musk, owner of social media platform X, has criticized Australia’s proposed legislation to ban social media for children under 16 and fine up to A$49.5 million ($32 million) for systemic social media violations USA) for companies. .

Australia’s centre-left government introduced the bill into parliament on Thursday. It plans to trial an age verification system to enforce age restrictions on social media, some of the toughest controls introduced to date in any country.

“This seems like a backdoor way to control internet access for all Australians,” Musk, who considers himself a champion of free speech, said in response late Thursday to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s message on X about the bill.

Several countries have already pledged to restrict children’s social media use through legislation, but Australia’s policy could be one of the strictest, with no exceptions for parental consent and pre-existing accounts.

France last year proposed a ban on social media for those under 15 but allowed parental consent, while the US has for decades required tech companies to seek parental consent to access the data of children under 13.

Musk has previously clashed with Australia’s centre-left Labor government over its social media policies and called them “fascists” over disinformation laws.

In April, X went to an Australian court to challenge a cyber regulator’s order to remove some posts about the stabbing of a bishop in Sydney, prompting Albanese to call Musk an “arrogant billionaire.”

($1 = 1.5359 AUD)

(Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by David Gregorio)