Social media giant Meta wants Australia to force Google and Apple to build age verification tools into their app stores, giving parents the power to block children under 16 from downloading social media apps. Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
After months of local calls for Facebook and Instagram to be blocked for children, top US Meta executives will tell Australian politicians the best place to restrict access is as people download an app, rather than in the process of creating an account.
“Parents should be able to approve their teen’s app downloads, and we support federal legislation that requires app stores to get parents’ approval whenever their teens under 16 download apps,” Antigone Davis, Meta’s vice president and global head of safety, will say at a hearing in Canberra.
Ms Davis was asked to fly to Australia to attend the hearing in person after she controversially told a hearing in June, “I don’t think that social media has done harm to our children”.
According to a copy of her opening statement provided to SMH, Ms Davis will spruik Meta’s safety features being rolled out as nations crack down on social media companies, adding that Snapchat, TikTok and child safety groups supported Apple and Google using age restrictions.
Apple – which along with Google run the online stores through which billions of people download smartphone apps – is resisting Meta’s proposal, saying the Mark Zuckerberg-owned company is shirking its responsibility to tackle concerns about teen mental health, explicit content, misinformation and online crime.
A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Michelle Rowland confirmed its $6.5 million trial into age assurance technology would look at models that check a person’s age when a phone is being set up, as well as in-app tools.
The Government said in May it would examine age verification after months of pressure from the Opposition to toughen up on tech platforms. Labor will soon announce a tender for the program.
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Instagram wants parents to have power to block access to its own apps (By Paul Sakkal, Sydney Morning Herald)
