Meta wants app stores and Aussie parents to act as social media age limit ‘gateway’

Social media giant Meta wants Australia to make parents responsible for approving what apps children under the age of 16 download.

Social media giant Meta wants Australia to make parents responsible for approving what apps children under the age of 16 download, denying this was “shirking” its duty to protect kids online.

Under pressure amid mounting evidence linking social media to physical and mental health issues among teens and children, the tech company has suggested the federal government legally require app stores to act as an age limit “gateway,” rather than imposing a restriction directly on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Meta’s vice president and global head of safety Antigone Davis told a social media inquiry hearing in Canberra on Wednesday this would allow parents to “oversee and approve their teens online activity”.

“With this solution, when a teen wants to download an app, app stores would be required to notify their parents, much like when parents are notified if their teen attempts to make an in-app purchase,” she said.

Independent MP Zoe Daniels asked if this amounted to Meta “shirking responsibility for age verification or safety”.

Meta’s vice president and director of global head of safety Antigone Davis, and regional director of policy Mia Garlick. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“So you will support some level of age assurance or age verification, as long as you don’t have to do it yourselves. Is that what it comes down to?” she said.

Ms Davis disagreed, arguing the company already had “liability” in relation to underage users on their platforms.

Despite this claim, Ms Davis was unable to say how many Australian children aged under the current limit of 13 were using Facebook or Instagram.

Meta is the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Picture: Olivier Douliery/AFP

Coalition communications spokesman David Coleman said Meta’s goal was to “seem like they are doing something, without actually doing anything”.

“Their support for age verification legislation is welcome, but their proposal is completely inadequate,” he said.

“Social media companies are causing immense harm to our kids, and age verification obligations must be put on them directly.”

Meta regional director of policy Mia Garlick also appeared at the hearing in Canberra, where she conceded the company does receive revenue from scammers who use its platform’s targeted ads process to identify vulnerable groups, such as people over 65 and Indigenous Australians.

Meta wants app stores and parents to take responsibility for age verification. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The executives also did not rule out stripping all news content from Facebook and Instagram in Australia.

Ms Davis previously sparked outrage when she appeared before the same committee in June and claimed social media did not harm children.

It comes as child safety experts call on the federal government to introduce tougher laws requiring tech companies operating in Australia to do more to stop the production and sharing of child sexual abuse material on their platforms.

In an open letter to Communications Minister Michelle Rowland released on Thursday, the International Justice Mission and other advocacy groups have asked Labor to this year strengthen protections for children.

About 13 per cent of kids in the Australian and Pacific region have been subjected to online sexual solicitation in the last 12 months.