MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australia's communications minister said Wednesday the government won't force social media users to hand over their personal information to tech companies, as children younger than 16 are set to be banned from the platforms.
Michelle Rowland plans to introduce into Parliament on Thursday world-first legislation that would make X, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram responsible for excluding Australian children younger than 16 from the platforms.
After the bill becomes law, the platforms would have one year to work out how to implement the ban on younger children before they face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic breaches.
How the platforms will be able to determine the ages of account holders is not yet known.
Rowland told Parliament on Wednesday the legislation will contain “robust provisions” to protect social media users’ privacy.
“This is not about government mandating any form of technology or demanding any personal information be handed over to social media companies,” Rowland said.
The government announced last week that a consortium led by British company Age Check Certification Scheme has been contracted to examine various technologies to estimate and verify ages.
In addition to removing children under 16 from social media, Australia is also looking for ways to prevent children under 18 from accessing online pornography, a government statement said.
Age Check Certification Scheme's chief executive Tony Allen said Monday the technologies being considered included age estimation and age inference. Inference involves establishing a series of facts about individuals that point to them being at least a certain age.
“None of these methods is 100% accurate,” Allen told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Allen’s company will report back to the Australian government by the end of June next year.
“I think if people understand the risk and the check is carried out close to that risk, then I think people generally are OK ... We don’t want our children to be exposed to extreme violent video games or to pornography or to suicide material or to things that are going to cause them problems with their mental development such as body dysmorphia and weight loss and stuff like that,” Allen said.
“What people are less keen on is having to go through ID check and verifications to access the internet generally or to do things online generally,” Allen added.
Digital Industry Group Inc., an advocate for the digital industry in Australia, described the age limit as a “20th century response to 21st century challenges.”
Australian Communications Minister Michelle Rowland speaks during House of Representatives Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, Nov.18, 2024. (Lukas Coch/AAP Image via AP)
A teenager uses his mobile phone to access social media, Sydney, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Dean Lewins/AAP Image VIA AP)
SEATTLE (AP) — A major storm swept across the northwest U.S., battering the region with strong winds and rain, causing widespread power outages and downing trees that killed at least one person.
The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks through Friday and hurricane-force wind warnings were in effect as the strongest atmospheric river — a large plume of moisture — that California and the Pacific Northwest has seen this season overwhelmed the region. The storm system that hit starting Tuesday is considered a “ bomb cyclone,” which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly.
Falling trees struck homes and littered roads across northwest Washington. In Lynnwood, Washington, a woman died Tuesday night when a large tree fell on a homeless encampment, South County Fire said in a statement on X. In Seattle, a tree fell onto a vehicle, temporarily trapping a person inside, the Seattle Fire Department reported. The agency later said the individual was in stable condition.
“Trees are coming down all over the city & falling onto homes,” the fire department in Bellevue, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of Seattle, posted on the social platform X. "If you can, go to the lowest floor and stay away from windows. Do not go outside if you can avoid it."
Early Wednesday, over 600,000 houses in Washington State were reported to be without power on poweroutage.us. But the number of outage reports had fluctuated wildly Tuesday evening likely due in part to several weather and utility agencies struggling to report information on the storm because of internet outages and other technical problems. It wasn’t clear if that figure was accurate. More than 15,000 had lost power in Oregon and nearly 19,000 in California.
As of 8 p.m., the peak wind speed was in Canadian waters, where gusts of 101 mph (163 kph) were reported off the coast of Vancouver Island, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle. Along the Oregon coast, there were wind gusts as high at 79 mph (127 kph) Tuesday evening, according to the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon, while wind speed of 77 mph (124 kph) was recorded at Mount Rainier in Washington.
The national Weather Service warned people on the West Coast about the danger of trees during high winds, posting on X, “Stay safe by avoiding exterior rooms and windows and by using caution when driving.”
In northern California, flood and high wind watches were in effect, with up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain predicted for parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, North Coast and Sacramento Valley. Dangerous flash flooding, rock slides and debris flows were expected, according to the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center.
A winter storm watch was issued for the northern Sierra Nevada above 3,500 feet (1,066 meters), where 15 inches (28 centimeters) of snow was possible over two days. Wind gusts could top 75 mph (120 kph) in mountain areas, forecasters said.
The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for parts of southwestern Oregon through Friday evening, while rough winds and seas halted a ferry route in northwestern Washington between Port Townsend and Coupeville.
A blizzard warning was issued for the majority of the Cascades in Washington, including Mount Rainier National Park, starting Tuesday afternoon, with up to a foot of snow and wind gusts up to 60 mph (97 kph), according to the weather service in Seattle. Travel across passes could be difficult if not impossible.
Seattle Fire Department personnel direct traffic off of NE 80th St. after power lines fell across the street during a major storm Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Seattle. (Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times via AP)
A neighbor looks up the street as a police car blocks 15th Ave NE after trees fell across the road and took down power lines in the Maple Leaf neighborhood during a major storm Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Seattle. (Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times via AP)
A person records damage of a tree and downed power lines during a major storm Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Seattle. (Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times via AP)
A firetruck blocks NE 80th St. at Roosevelt after power lines fell across the street during a major storm Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Seattle. (Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times via AP)
This photo released by Eastside Fire & Rescue shows a tree resting on the roof of a house during a major storm Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Issaquah, Wash. (Eastside Fire & Rescue via AP)
In this image made from video provided by National Weather Service Portland a powerful storm also called a 'bomb cyclone' rotates off the U.S. West Coast on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (National Weather Service Portland via AP)
This Nov. 19, 2024 satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows an atmospheric river moving in on Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. (NOAA via AP)
In this image provided by Eastside Fire & Rescue, officials survey the scene where a tree fell on a home in Issaquah, Wash., Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (Eastside Fire & Rescue via AP)
