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Australia bans under-16 from social media platforms

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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

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Finnish court fixes May 2025 for Simon Ekpa’s trial

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November 28, 2024

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Simon Ekpa

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.

“The date for bringing up possible charges by the prosecution was set by the district court to May 2025,” he said, according to Punch.

Laaksonen added that both Ekpa and Finnish authorities could request a re-evaluation of the case in two weeks if necessary.

A Finnish citizen of Nigerian descent, Ekpa faces serious allegations, including incitement to violence, terrorism financing, and public incitement to commit crimes with terrorist intent.

Finnish police allege that Ekpa used social media to incite violence in Nigeria’s South-East region, targeting civilians and authorities.

His activities reportedly contributed to economic losses exceeding ₦4 trillion due to enforced sit-at-home orders and growing insecurity in the region.

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The arrests were part of a broader investigation requiring international cooperation.

While Finnish authorities have not disclosed further details about cross-border efforts, Ekpa’s arrest has drawn attention due to his influence on the ongoing unrest in Nigeria.

Self-proclaimed “Prime Minister” of the Biafra Republic Government-in-Exile, Ekpa gained notoriety for his calls to boycott Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, which led to violence and unrest.

Finnish Central Criminal Police have linked him to coordinated attacks on civilians and security forces in Nigeria since 2021, with social media playing a pivotal role in incitement and fundraising for his alleged activities.

Ekpa’s arrest has been hailed as a major step in addressing violence in Nigeria’s South-East. The Federal Government expressed its intent to monitor the legal proceedings in Finland closely.

Kimiebi Ebienfa, spokesperson for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, described the arrest as “a critical step in addressing IPOB’s activities and neutralising the influence of transnational actors on our national security.”

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, representing Abia South, also welcomed the development.

 

Finnish court fixes May 2025 for Simon Ekpa’s trial

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

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November 28, 2024

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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

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Canada, Mexico, China respond to Trump tariff threats

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2 days ago

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November 27, 2024

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Canada, Mexico, China respond to Trump tariff threats

Officials from Canada, Mexico and China have warned US President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to impose sweeping tariffs on America’s three largest trading partners could upend the economies of all four countries.

“To one tariff will follow another in response and so on, until we put our common businesses at risk,” Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said.

Trump vowed on Monday night to introduce 25% tariffs on goods coming from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% on goods coming from China. He said the duties were a bid to clamp down on drugs and illegal immigration.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he spoke to Trump in the hours after the announcement and planned to hold a meeting with Canada’s provincial leaders on Wednesday to discuss a response.

A spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington DC told the BBC: “No-one will win a trade war or a tariff war.”

The international pushback came a day after Trump announced his plans for his first day in office, on 20 January, in a post on his social media website, Truth Social.

Trudeau said his country was prepared to work with the US in “constructive ways”.

“This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on, and that’s what we’ll do,” Trudeau told reporters.

In a phone call with Trump, Trudeau said the pair discussed trade and border security, with the prime minister pointing out that the number of migrants crossing the Canadian border was much smaller compared with the US-Mexico border.

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Trump’s team declined to confirm the phone call.

But Trump spokesman Steven Cheung added that world leaders had sought to “develop stronger relationships” with Trump “because he represents global peace and stability”.

Mexico’s President Sheinbaum told reporters on Tuesday that neither threats nor tariffs would solve the “migration phenomenon” or drug consumption in the US.

Reading from a letter that she said she would send to Trump, Sheinbaum also warned that Mexico would retaliate by imposing its own taxes on US imports, which would “put common enterprises at risk”.

She said Mexico had taken steps to tackle illegal migration into the US and that “caravans of migrants no longer reach the border”.

The issue of drugs, she added, “is a problem of public health and consumption in your country’s society”.

Sheinbaum, who took office last month, noted that US car manufacturers produce some of their parts in Mexico and Canada.

“If tariffs go up, who will it hurt? General Motors,” she said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, told the BBC that “China-US economic and trade co-operation is mutually beneficial in nature”.

He denied that China allows chemicals used in the manufacture of illegal drugs – including fentanyl – to be smuggled to the US.

“China has responded to US request for verifying clues on certain cases and taken action,” Liu said.

“All these prove that the idea of China knowingly allowing fentanyl precursors to flow into the United States runs completely counter to facts and reality.”

President Joe Biden has left in place the tariffs on China that Trump introduced in his first term, and added a few more of his own.

Currently, a majority of what the two countries sell to each other is subject to tariffs – 66.4% of US imports from China and 58.3% of Chinese imports from the US.

Speaking in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Trudeau told lawmakers that “the idea of going to war with the United States isn’t what anyone wants”.

He called on them to not “panic”, and to work together.

“That is the work we will do seriously, methodically. But without freaking out,” he said.

The leaders of Canadian provinces suggested that they would impose their own tariffs on the US.

“The things we sell to the United States are the things they really need,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Tuesday. “We sell them oil, we sell them electricity, we sell them critical minerals and metals.”

America’s northern neighbour accounted for some $437bn (£347bn) of US imports in 2022, and was the largest market for US exports in the same year, according to US data.

Canada sends about 75% of its total exports to the US.

Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, said on Monday the proposed tariff would be “devastating to workers and jobs in both Canada and the US”.

“To compare us to Mexico is the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard,” said Ford.

Ford was echoed by the premiers of Quebec, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, while a post on the X account of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith acknowledged that Trump had “valid concerns related to illegal activities at our shared border”.

The Canadian dollar, the Loonie, has plunged in value since Trump vowed to impose tariffs on Canadian imports come January.

The Canadian dollar dipped below 71 US cents, the lowest level the Loonie has fallen to since May 2020, when Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canadian goods during his first stint as US president. The Mexican peso fell to its lowest value this year, around 4.8 cents.

Canada, Mexico, China respond to Trump tariff threats

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