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Paul Stenhouse: How will Australia police its new under-16 social media ban?

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Sat, 30 Nov 2024, 12:12pm
(Photo/Getty Images)
(Photo/Getty Images)

Paul Stenhouse: How will Australia police its new under-16 social media ban?

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Sat, 30 Nov 2024, 12:12pm

Australia passes its under-16 social media ban 
While this law has good intentions, how it will actually work is unclear. Unfortunately, there's not a good way to verify ages (or even people) online which makes this an almost impossible task for the social media companies. 
 
Credit Cards could be one way to verify those aged over 18, but it also means that only those who can get a credit card can use the service. But this age restriction is 16, so there's nothing that exists. Unless the government wants to roll out a 16+ government issued ID. But the government is already ruling out the use of official documents, such as a passport, due to privacy concerns -- so what on earth do they do? 
 
 
Meta is building a $10 billion undersea cable that spans the globe 
When your company accounts for 10% of all fixed internet traffic, and 22% of mobile internet traffic, you know the pipes are important! Reporting from TechCrunch says they are planning to build a 40,000+ kilometre cable network around the world that will take around 10 years to complete. 
 
Initial plans show the cable going from the US east coast to South Africa, up to India, down to Australia (Darwin), then up to the west coast of the US - purposely avoiding places of "geopolitical tension" such as the Red Sea, and the South China Sea.  
  
It's enticing for Meta because they'd get to prioritize its own traffic (a win for their customers) and allow Meta to tap into AI infrastructure in India. 

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