【明報專訊】AUSTRALIA'S world-first social media age restrictions, barring under-16s from holding accounts on the ten most popular platforms, took effect yesterday (10 December). A growing body of research shows that social media are addictive, and prolonged use by children and teenagers is associated with rising mental health problems. The tech giants have shirked their social responsibilities; tighter regulation is more than justified. With several countries eyeing similar measures, Hong Kong should also keep a close watch on how events unfold.
Legislation passed last year introduced social media age restrictions for under‑16s, a regime the Australian government's online‑safety regulator, eSafety, explicitly describes as "social media minimum age obligation". The law targets not the young users themselves but the platforms, obliging the major players to take "reasonable steps" to stop under-16s from opening or keeping accounts. In effect, it is a regulatory barrier to social media's drive to cultivate ever-younger customers.
Social media began as a promise to bring people closer; it has since veered wildly off course. Social media platforms are now awash with clickbait, hate-stirring invective, deeply disturbing content, sextortion, sexualised imagery and deepfake pornography, all swirling alongside rampant cyberbullying. Young minds, still unformed, are easily nudged into dark corners by extremist or misleading information. Cases of teenagers taking their own lives after exposure to such content have surfaced across the world.
For social media companies, traffic is money, and their algorithms are calibrated with one core aim: addiction. As social media use has surged worldwide, so too have reports of mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and even self-harm among the young. A new study by Swedish and US researchers argues that the constant buzz of alerts and notifications erodes children's ability to concentrate—potentially contributing to rising ADHD (attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder) diagnoses. They call for far stricter age-verification rules for social media use.
When tobacco companies were exposed for concealing the harms of smoking and deliberately fostering addiction, they faced a wave of class actions in the US. Some social media giants now find themselves in strikingly similar territory. At Meta, Facebook's parent company, a succession of former employees has gone public with allegations of serious misconduct. A group of American parents has launched a class action accusing several social media platforms of intentionally designing their apps to be addictive while concealing the harm they cause—a high-profile case due to go to trial next month.
Under pressure from lawsuits and calls for tighter rules, parts of Big Tech are replaying Big Tobacco's script: publicly denying the allegations, claiming to roll out stronger child-safety measures, and lobbying the authorities behind the scenes—including shaping public opinion—to block tougher regulation.
Over the past two decades, global platforms have expanded at breakneck pace, wielding "free speech" as a handy shield against oversight. US social media giants maintain cosy ties with Washington, and their opaque algorithms raise serious questions about their true motives. Australia's new law signals that social media companies can no longer act with impunity in pursuit of profit. If they continue to duck their social responsibilities, tighter regulation worldwide is not a matter of if, but when.
明報社評 2025.12.11：社媒未克盡社會責任 年齡設限澳洲開先河
澳洲限制16歲以下青少年使用十大社交媒體帳戶的新法例昨天正式生效，開創全球先河。愈來愈多研究顯示，社媒令人上癮；兒童青少年長時間使用，增加出現精神心理問題。社媒巨頭未克盡己任，政府加強監管無可非議。目前多國有意仿效澳洲做法，香港亦應密切留意事態發展。
澳洲去年通過法案，限制16歲以下青少年使用社交媒體，澳洲政府網絡安全監管機構eSafety稱之為「社媒年齡限制」。新法例究責對象不是違例的用家（青少年），而是提供服務的社交媒體，旨在要求社媒巨頭採取「合理步驟」，防止16歲以下人士開戶或保留帳戶。準確來說，新例是防止社媒開拓青少年客戶的監管措施。
社交媒體出現之初，標榜加強人與人聯繫，發展下來卻荒腔走板。社媒平台氾濫各種但求博取眼球、大肆渲染仇恨歧視和令人不安的信息，性勒索、性暗示、深偽色情內容充斥，網絡欺凌問題嚴重。青少年心智未成熟，尤其容易受偏激、不實信息誤導而鑽牛角尖，受社交平台內容影響而自殺的例子，在世界各地時有所聞。
對社媒而言，流量就是金錢，演算法一大目的就是令用戶「上癮」。隨着社媒席捲全球，年輕人出現精神健康問題，諸如抑鬱、焦慮甚至自毁傾向的情况也相應增加。瑞典和美國學者一項新研究指出，社媒透過信息與通知持續不斷干擾，減低兒童專注力，可能是導致ADHD（專注力不足及過度活躍症）病例增加的其中一個因素，認為當局應就使用社媒設下更嚴格的年齡驗證機制。
當年煙商被揭隱瞞煙害及蓄意令人上癮，在美國惹來集體訴訟。當下一些社媒巨頭也面對類似情况。社交平台facebook母公司Meta，先後有多名前僱員出來爆料，指證公司種種不當做法。美國一批家長發起集體訴訟，指控多個社交平台刻意將應用程式設計到令人上癮，並隱瞞平台造成的傷害，這宗大案將於下月開審。
部分社媒巨頭面對訴訟及加強監管的呼聲，應對策略也跟煙商異曲同工：公開否認指控、聲稱推出對兒童更安全的措施，私下游說權力當局及發動輿論，反對加強監管。
過去20年，跨國社媒巨頭極速發展，「維護言論自由」成為迴避規管的擋箭牌。美國社媒巨頭與華府政界過從甚密，演算法又黑箱運作，令人懷疑社媒巨頭目的何在。澳洲引入新例，是要社媒巨頭不能只求逐利，任意而為。倘若社媒巨頭不克盡社會責任，世界各地針對社媒的監管，只會陸續有來。
/ Glossary生字 /
duck：to avoid a difficult or unpleasant duty or responsibility
shirk：to avoid doing sth you should do
veer wildly off course：to move away from an intended path, plan, or subject in an uncontrolled manner