X has a up-to-date argument against blanket social media bans for minors that would restrict utilize of the platform: they interfere with international law.
The social media platform hosted by Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been released motion to the Australian Parliament published on Tuesday calling on the government to end efforts to strengthen a ban on social media utilize by minors. He alleged that proposals to raise pressure on websites to demonstrate efforts to restrict access by minors are unnecessary, inappropriate, unfair and likely to violate privacy rights.
X objected to the “highly intrusive” information collection powers the proposed amendment would allow, accusing the commissioner of an “apparent lack of understanding” of how it would work for platforms and a lack of safeguards for confidential and commercially sensitive information. Requesting data, documents and proof of compliance from non-Australian citizens in other countries could cause problems “for the good of nations”, the company also warned.
Australia is leading a growing global movement to restrict children’s access to social media after banning under-16s from the sites in December. In May, the country ordered X to pay a fine of $463,000 for failing to take measures to keep children unthreatening. The country’s internet regulator, eSafety, first imposed the fine in 2023, saying X had failed to sufficiently respond to a request for information on how to prevent the spread of child sexual abuse content online, made a month before Elon Musk, now X, took over Twitter.
X has previously criticized the country’s “excessive” sentencing system and in his latest statement complained that the proposal to raise penalties for individuals was “totally unjustified and disproportionate.”
Musk has been particularly vocal in his criticism of Australia’s law, which states that the minimum age for using social media is 16. “It looks like all Australians are using a backdoor to control their internet access.” wrote on X when the up-to-date regulations were announced in delayed 2024. When Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced similar measures in February this year, Musk called him a “tyrant” and a “true fascist totalitarian.”
While many digital rights activists find blanket bans on age-based social media “problematic,” the issue is not information-gathering powers, says Stefania Di Stefano, a researcher on international law and technology.
“For me, a total ban on the use of social media by children and minors is problematic from an international human rights point of view,” says Di Stefano. “This is disproportionate in relation to children’s right to exercise their right to freedom of expression, their right to access information, their right to association, etc.”
However, Julia Hörnle, professor of internet law at Queen Mary University of London, is skeptical of X’s proposal. “An Australian regulator ordering X to disclose a document related to his business activities in Australia is perfectly fine,” she tells WIRED. “From all data held by a social media company, a distinction can be made between Australian and non-Australian children and therefore regulations apply in Australia.”