オーストラリアにおける16歳じゅうろくさい未満みまんSNS利用りよう禁止法きんしほうの施行しこうと規制きせい回避かいひ行為こういの拡大かくだい

Its been almost a month since a new law banning the use of social media by youths under the age of 16 was enacted in Australia.

This law requires companies operating social networks to freeze existing accounts of users under the age of 16 and prevent the creation of new accounts. Currently, ten services, including X formerly Twitter and Instagram, are designated as subject to this regulation.

According to an opinion poll conducted among adults after the law was enacted, it was found that 79% of approximately 1,600 respondents were in favor of banning the use of social media.

However, in reality, acts that exploit this loophole in the regulation are spreading, and its effectiveness is being weakened.

For example, according to a report by the Australian Financial Review AFR, there was a case where a 14-year-old girl continued to use the photo sharing app Snapchat on her mothers old device, separate from her own smartphone.

Even though the girls account had been suspended, she reinstalled the app on her mothers device and bypassed the age restriction.

Furthermore, according to local media, there have been a series of cases where regulations are being circumvented in various ways. For example, some people disguise overseas access by using virtual private networks VPNs, and there have been cases where people bypass the facial recognition systems introduced by social media companies by using photos of other peoples faces.

Additionally, the number of users of photo-sharing apps not included in the banned list, such as Lemon8 and Yope, is also rapidly increasing, and these apps are believed to be chosen as alternative services by users under the age of 16.

The Australian government stated that it was anticipated that children would move to services that are not banned, and they plan to expand the scope of regulations if necessary.

However, the AFR paper cited experts opinions, pointing out that this measure is like a game of whack-a-mole, highlighting the limitations and challenges of this regulation.