Oprah Winfrey hails Australia’s social media ban for under-16s

Oprah Winfrey has commended Australia's new social media ban on access for children under the age of 16.

The country's significant move would help young people to socialize more and will protect them from detrimental content.

According to Reuters, the law specifically implies that it will block children and teenagers from platforms such as TikTok and Meta’s Snapchat, which will take effect on December 10.

The government ban will safeguard young people from subversive content and online predators.

According to local media, Winfrey said at an event in Sydney on Thursday night, “I think you’re going to change the lives of an entire generation of kids who are giving to have better lives.”

American talk show host further said: “There are all of these young people who cannot actually communicate or have a conversation, particularly young boys because they become addicted to bad content so early and don’t know how to actually ask somebody out on a date and haven't experienced the socialization of talking to a real person.”

The tech companies will be reportedly fined up to A$49.5m (US$33m, £25m) if they defy the age restrictions in line with the new rule.

It has been observed that some 96% of Australian teenagers under 16-more than a million of the country’s 27 million population- have social media accounts, in line with Australia's internet regulator.

On the contrary, YouTube has approximately 325,000 accounts held by Australians aged 13 to 15, according to regulator the eSafety Commissioner. 

It ranks third, behind Snapchat (440,000) and Instagram (350,000) in that age range.

In addition, the Safety Commissioner has said that more than one-third of Australians aged 10 to 15 have reported seeing harmful content on YouTube.

Nonetheless, former generations have dealt with potentially damaging content, but new technology meant children had content immediately available, with algorithms and notifications captivating their attention for hours every day.

It is expected the new rule will help adolescents with safety efficiently.