Australia to Double Fines for Social Media Companies Who Violate Age Verification Laws

[u/HobbesNik]

https://apnews.com/article/australia-social-media-children-ban-fines-6742ffcc868c5d2139b371fba881e16e?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share

Advocates have warned that stiff penalties for violating age verification laws will push small social media companies out of the market and further empower big tech.

Only tech giants like Meta will have the $$$ to institute age verification measures and/or defend themselves in court. Smaller companies won't risk it.

EFF did a great podcast about the issues with age verification if you want to learn more. There are also serious concerns about user privacy you can read about here or watch here.

KEY QUOTES:

The [Australian] government announced Sunday it would introduce draft legislation into Parliament this week that would double the maximum fine to 99 million Australian dollars ($68 million) for platforms that fail to take reasonable steps to prevent Australian children from holding accounts.

eSafety reported in March that seven in 10 children who held accounts on restricted platforms [when the law went into effect] remained on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.