Austria’s conservative three-party government is banning the use of social media by children under the age of 14. Today Friday, the members of the country’s cabinet said to agree in principle on this matter.
According to the government, this initiative is being taken to protect children from harmful content including ‘addictive algorithms’, sexual abuse. However, no final decision has been made yet on when this ban will come into effect and how it will be implemented.
The country’s Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler said, “We will take strong steps to protect children and young people from the negative effects of social media in the future.”
Andreas Babler added, ‘These platforms are making our children addicted, and in many cases sick. These risks have been ignored for so long, now is the time to act.’
Meanwhile, some countries have already taken steps to set age limits for social media use. Australia first introduced such a ban for under-16s last December. Several other countries are following the same path. France’s lower house of parliament approved a ban on social media for under-15s in January this year.
Austria’s proposed law will be drafted by the end of June, Andreas Babler said.
However, it will not be listed separately on which platforms this ban will apply, Babler said. Rather, decisions will be made based on how addictive a platform’s algorithm is and whether there is ‘sexual violence’ content.
