X Says Australia’s Under-16s Social Media Ban Risks Interfering With Foreign Law
Social media platform X has formally opposed Australia's proposed under-16 social media ban, arguing the legislation is invasive and interferes with international law. The company claims the government's data-gathering requirements lack necessary safeguards and could set a problematic global precedent.
Why it matters
This conflict highlights the growing tension between global tech platforms and national governments attempting to regulate child safety and digital access.
The social media platform, which sits within Elon Musk’s SpaceX, issued a submission to the Australian Parliament published Tuesday that called for the government to drop efforts to strengthen its underage social media ban. It complained that the proposals to increase pressure on sites to demonstrate efforts to crack down on underage access are unnecessary, ill-suited, unfair, and could violate privacy rights.
X pushed back against the “highly invasive” information gathering powers the proposed amendment would allow, accusing the commissioner of having “seemingly no understanding” of how this would work for the platforms and no safeguards for confidential and commercially sensitive information. Demanding data, documents, and compliance evidence from non-Australians in other countries could cause issues “for the comity of nations,” the firm also warned.
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