Snapchat responds to calls for raising the age for teenagers to use social media in Australia

On August 20, The Guardian Australia reported that Snapchat responded to calls in Australia to raise the age for teenagers to use social media to 16 years old, saying that if the law changes, technology companies such as Apple or Google should implement relevant regulations.

As the Australian government tightens its policies on "tech giants" and social media companies, discussions about the impact of social media use on the country's young people continue to heat up. It is reported that among the 8 million Snapchat users in Australia, most are between 13 and 24 years old. At the same time, social software including Snapchat is closely linked to criminal acts such as school bullying, telecommunications fraud, and the spread of false information. In 2022, the "deepfake" nude photo of 15-year-old girl Roswaen in New South Wales was widely spread on Snapchat. After being severely cyberbullied, she committed ***. Roswaen's mother said that the police encountered great difficulties in identifying the owner of the Snapchat account related to the case. An expert in the field of intelligence and security said that among the 2,000 financial fraud victims he interviewed, almost all had communicated with criminals through Instagram or Snapchat.

Regarding the call to limit the age of social media use for Australian minors, Jacqueline Beauchere, global head of platform safety at Snapchat, believes that a ban on teenagers using social media will cause a backlash. She said that the best time for parents to decide on teenagers' access to social media depends on their growth status, and emotional intelligence and self-management ability are important considerations.

The Australian government is currently evaluating the feasibility of age verification technology. The Australian opposition has called for raising the age for teenagers to use social media from 13 to 16 years old. Ajit Mohan, president of Snapchat Asia Pacific, said that if the Australian government decides to implement this decision, it is best to be controlled by the owners of the operating systems of mobile devices and device manufacturers. Beauchere said that Snapchat is taking measures to improve the platform usage environment, such as blocking friend requests sent from accounts in high-risk locations and not allowing minors to add people outside their contact lists as friends.