Snapchat opposes the federal government's push to raise the age on social media, the visual messaging app believes.
South Australia, NSW, the federal opposition and prime minister Anthony Albanese are united in lifting the minimum age of 13 on social media to 16 with the potential introduction of age restriction technologies.
According Snapchat 80% of 13-24 year-olds and 75% of 13-34 year-olds across Australia use its app.
Snap positions itself as the "anti-social media company". Labeling Snapchat as a visual messaging app rather than a social media platform.
“It’s not somewhere that you go to meet new people or to engage with strangers or post content that’s going to be seen by a huge audience,” the company’s global head of platform safety, Jacqueline Beauchere, told Guardian Australia.
“The age might be 13, the age might be 16, but not every 13-year-old is the same, and not every 14, 15, 16-year-old is the same,” Beauchere said.
“They have a certain degree of a maturity level that’s associated with where they are in life.”
Beauchere is in Sydney this week, meeting with stakeholders including the Australian eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant.
A YouGov survey found that satisfaction in relationships with close friends tends to be stronger among Australians who use Snapchat weekly or more, compared to the broader Australian adult audience.
Adults who use Snapchat weekly or more (57%) are more likely to be ‘very satisfied’ with the quality of their relationships with close friends than adults broadly (50%).
Teens who use Snapchat weekly or more (62%) are also slightly more likely to be ‘very satisfied with the quality of their relationships with close friends than the broader teen audience (60%).
Advertising leaders told AdNews they see regulations regarding raising the age minimum of social media as a positive opportunity to decrease ad wastage and boost client confidence.
The Joint Select Committee on Social Media and Australian Society, tasked to inquire into and report on the influence and impacts of social media on Australian society, failed to submit its interim report on time, by August 15.
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