MELBOURNE: The Australian Senate was debating a ban on children younger than 16 years old from social media Thursday after the House of Representatives overwhelmingly supported the age restriction.
The bill that would make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million) for systemic failures to prevent young children from holding accounts.
It is likely to be passed by the Senate on Thursday, the Parliament’s final session for the year and potentially the last before elections, which are due within months.
The major parties’ support for the ban all but guarantees the legislation will become law. But many child welfare and mental health advocates are concerned about unintended consequences.
Unaligned Sen. Jacqui Lambie complained about the limited amount of time the government gave the Senate to debate the age restriction, which she described as “undercooked.”
“I thought this was a good idea. A lot of people out there thought it was a good idea until we looked at the detail and, let’s be honest, there’s no detail,” Lambie told the Senate.
Opposition Sen. Maria Kovacic said the bill was not radical but necessary.
“The core focus of this legislation is simple: It demands that social media companies take reasonable steps to identify and remove underage users from their platforms,” Kovacic told the Senate.
“This is a responsibility these companies should have been fulfilling long ago, but for too long they have shirked these responsibilities in favor of profit,” she added.
Sen. David Shoebridge, from the minor Greens party, said mental health experts agreed that the ban could dangerously isolate many children who used social media to find support.
“This policy will hurt vulnerable young people the most, especially in regional communities and especially the LGBTQI community, by cutting them off,” Shoebridge told the Senate.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly carried the bill 102 votes to 13.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland urged senators to pass the bill which she said reflected the Australian community’s view.
“The ... government is on the side of supporting parents and protecting young people,” Rowland told the House.
Once the legislation becomes law, the platforms would have one year to work out how they could implement the ban before penalties are enforced.
The platforms complained that the law would be unworkable, and urged the Senate to delay the vote until at least June next year when a government-commissioned evaluation of age assurance technologies made its report on how young children could be excluded.
Critics argue the government is attempting to convince parents it is protecting their children ahead of general elections due by May. The government hopes that voters will reward it for responding to parents’ concerns about their children’s addiction to social media. Some argue the legislation could cause more harm than it prevents.
Criticisms include that the legislation was rushed through Parliament without adequate scrutiny, is ineffective, poses privacy risks for all users, and undermines parental authority to make decisions for their children.
Opponents of the bill also argue the ban would isolate children, deprive them of the positive aspects of social media, drive them to the dark web, discourage children too young for social media to report harm and reduce incentives for platforms to improve online safety.

LONDON: Liverpool are 100 percent on top of the Champions League after dumping title holders Real Madrid into an almost unbelievable 24th place in the 36-team standings on Wednesday.

No one felt the embarrassment of Madrid’s 2-0 loss at Anfield more than Kylian Mbappe, the superstar added in the offseason by the storied club that also was European champion against Liverpool in the finals of 2022 and 2018.

Mbappe had a penalty saved in the second half and was earlier dumped on his behind by Conor Bradley’s superb tackle in an instant viral moment.

Only Liverpool have started the new Champions League format with five wins and first-year coach Arne Slot’s team are two points clear of Inter Milan. Barcelona are third, trailing Liverpool by three points.

Madrid are, remarkably, with three rounds left just one place above being eliminated. The top eight teams at the end of January go direct to the round of 16 in March, and teams placed from ninth to 24th enter a round of two-leg playoffs in February.

“(This) doesn’t change much, because even with a win it was going to be tough to secure a top-eight finish,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said. ”It was a fair result.”

Monaco missed a chance to go second in the table, giving up a lead playing with 10 men from the 58th minute in a 3-2 loss at home to Benfica. Swiss forward Zeki Amdouni scored the winning goal in the 88th.

Borussia Dortmund, the beaten finalists against Madrid in May, are up to fourth place after beating Dinamo Zagreb 3-0. Champions League standout Jamie Gittens now has four goals in five games, curling a rising shot in the 41st to open the scoring in Croatia.

The best comeback was at PSV Eindhoven, where the home team trailed Shakhtar Donetsk by two goals in the 87th minute before a 3-2 win was sealed by US forward Ricardo Pepi’s goal deep in stoppage time.

US defender Cameron Carter-Vickers scored an embarrassing own goal for Celtic — playing a no-look pass far beyond goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel — in a 1-1 draw with Club Brugge.

“One of those things,” Schmeichel said. “Cam gets pressed and he hasn’t heard me shout that I’m not in (goal).”

Congo teammates Ngal’Ayel Mukau and Silas impressed in wins for Lille and Red Star Belgrade.

Mukau scored twice in 12th-place Lille’s 2-1 win at Bologna and Silas leveled for Red Star in a 5-1 rout of Stuttgart, though he barely celebrated his goal. Silas is on loan with the Serbian champion from Stuttgart.

Aston Villa’s 0-0 draw with Juventus was preserved by an excellent save by Emiliano Martinez, the World Cup-winning Argentina goalkeeper, diving low to push away a header from Francisco Conceiçao.

Bradley beats Mbappe

Liverpool’s stand-in right back Bradley was a standout Wednesday, denying Mbappe at high speed in a signature defensive play in the 32nd.

The 21-year-old Northern Ireland defender, deputizing for fit-again Trent Alexander-Arnold, joined the attack in the 52nd to play a key pass returning the ball to Alexis Mac Allister who scored the opening goal.

After Mbappe’s penalty was pushed away by goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher in the 61st, Liverpool star Mo Salah missed with his spot-kick in the 70th, before substitute Cody Gakpo sealed the win with a header in the 77th.

Madrid now have lost three of five games after defeats at Lille and at home to AC Milan. The record 15-time European champions have another tough trip next, at fifth-place Atalanta on Dec. 10. On the same date, Liverpool are at 30th-place Girona and look to be cruising into the round of 16.

“You know how special it is to play against a team that has won the Champions League so many times,” Liverpool coach Slot said of Madrid. “They were a pain for Liverpool for many years too.”

First wins, first points

Red Star Belgrade and Sturm Graz ended four-game losing runs to get their first points and wins.

Red Star rallied against Stuttgart after the German team led in the fifth minute. The 1991 European Cup winner’s goal to level the game in the 12th was scored by on-loan Silas. He held up his hands as if in apology as part of a low-key celebration.

Sturm Graz won 1-0 against Girona, the Spanish newcomers to European competitions. It was the Austrian champions’ first Champions League game since coach Christian Ilzer left to join Hoffenheim.