Australia bans under-16 from social media platforms

Australia yesterday announced a ban on children aged 16 and below from social media use.

The country’s parliament passed world’s first law banning under-16s despite safety concerns.

The bill was passed amid warning that the process had been rushed and that a ban could push teenagers towards the dark web or into isolation.

Australia’s parliament passed a law that will aim to do what no other government has and many parents have tried to stop children from using social media.

The new law was drafted in response to what the Labor Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, described as a “clear, causal link between the rise of social media and the harm [to] the mental health of young Australians”.

Yesterday, the parliament’s upper house – Senate, passed a Bill by 34 votes to 19 banning children under 16 from social media platforms.

But academics, politicians and advocacy groups warned that the ban – as envisioned by the government – could backfire, driving teenagers to the dark web, or making them feel more isolated.

There have been questions about how the ban will be effective.

Many worry that the process has been too rushed, and that, if users are asked to prove their age, it could lead to social media companies being handed valuable personal data. Even Elon Musk has weighed in.

The online safety amendment (social media minimum age) bill bans social media platforms from allowing users under 16 to access their services, threatening companies with fines of up to AU$50m (US$32m) if they fail to comply.

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However, it contains no details about how it will work, only that the companies will be expected to take reasonable steps to ensure users are aged 16 or over. The detail will come later, through the completion of a trial of age-assurance technology in mid-2025.

The bill will not come into force for another 12 months.

It was also silent on which companies the legislation would apply, though Communications Minister, Michelle Rowland, said that Snapchat, TikTok, X, Instagram, Reddit and Facebook are likely to be part of the ban.

YouTube will not be included because of its “significant” educational purpose, she said.

The bill was introduced to parliament last week, with just three sitting days left on the parliamentary calendar. It received 15,000 submissions in a day.

Among these was one from Amnesty International recommending that the bill not be passed because a “ban that isolates young people will not meet the government’s objective of improving young people’s lives”.

The number of responses increased dramatically, the Australian broadcaster ABC reported, after X owner Musk reposted a tweet by Albanese announcing that the bill would be introduced that day, writing, “Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians.”

Most of the submissions were a form response, the ABC reported, with fewer than 100 submissions made by interest groups.

Australia bans under-16 from social media platforms

Finnish court fixes May 2025 for Simon Ekpa’s trial

Pro-Biafran separatist leader Simon Ekpa is set to stand trial in Finland by May 2025, Finnish authorities have announced.

Ekpa, who was arrested alongside four others on suspicion of terrorism-related activities, remains in custody at the Päijät-Häme District Court.

Senior Detective Superintendent Mikko Laaksonen of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation confirmed the trial timeline.

FBI informant among 3 Americans released in China-US prisoner exchange

Three American men John Leung, Kai Li, and Mark Swidan are on their way home following a prisoner swap between the United States and China.

The agreement, brokered by the Biden administration, concluded years of imprisonment for the men and marked a rare resolution amid tense relations between the two countries.

According to the New York Times, Sean Savett, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, confirmed the release early Wednesday, saying, “Soon they will return and be reunited with their families for the first time in many years.”

Each of the three Americans endured years of detainment under varying circumstances.

Mr Leung, a dual U.S.-Hong Kong citizen, led a complex double life.

While publicly supporting pro-Beijing policies, including China’s claim to Taiwan, he also worked as an informant for the FBI.

Despite warnings from his FBI handlers to avoid travel to China, he visited in 2021, where he was arrested and later sentenced to life in prison for espionage.

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His imprisonment marked the first such sentence against an American in China.

Mr Li, a businessman, was detained in 2016 while visiting family in Shanghai.

Convicted on charges of espionage that his family and advocates maintained were baseless, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

A Texas-based businessman, Mark Swidan, endured the harshest conditions.

Detained in 2012 on drug-related charges, Swidan was sentenced to death in 2019 despite a lack of physical evidence tying him to the crime.

International human rights organisations, including the United Nations, condemned his detention as arbitrary and unjust.

The prisoner swap involved months of high-stakes negotiations and the release of at least one Chinese national detained in the U.S.

The New York Times reported that discussions were reportedly centred on Xu Yanjun, a Chinese intelligence officer imprisoned in the United States since 2021.

Mr Yanjun was convicted of attempting to steal trade secrets from U.S. aviation companies, making him a high-profile figure in Sino-American relations.

FBI informant among 3 Americans released in China-US prisoner exchange