Japan eyes Australia’s under-16 social media ban amid addiction worries

Australia has approved laws that stipulate fines against social media platforms for failing to ban children below 16 from having accounts

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Japanese schoolchildren cross a street in Tokyo. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:16pm, 29 Nov 2024Updated: 2:59pm, 29 Nov 2024

Australia’s decision to ban children under the age of 16 from accessing social media has triggered a debate in Japan about the need for similar legislation to protect its young people.

The law was approved by the Australian senate on Thursday and will make some of the most popular social media platforms in the world – including Facebook, Snapchat, X, Reddit, Instagram and TikTok – liable for fines of up to A$50 million (US$32.6 million) if they fail to prevent children below 16 from having accounts.

A discussion on the same day on the TV Asahi “Hatori Shinichi Morning Show” news programme broadly concurred that Japan should consider similar restrictions.

The debate came following a news report about a 14-year-old junior high school student from Yokohama who has been referred to prosecutors on suspicion of intimidation and obstruction of business after she sent threatening emails to road safety advocate Takuya Matsunaga and the Kanto Traffic Crime Victims’ Association.

Matsunaga has been fiercely advocating for more road safety rules after his wife, Mana, and their daughter, 3-year-old Riko, were killed by an elderly driver who went through a red light in Tokyo in 2019. The driver, Kozo Iizuka, claimed in court that his vehicle’s brakes had failed but the court ruled that he had pressed the accelerator.

Iizuka’s case has been back in the news this week after he died in prison on Tuesday at the age of 93.