Ammon News - Austria's conservative-led, three-party government plans to introduce a ban ​on social media use for children under 14, ‌it said on Friday.

Cabinet members from the three ruling parties announced a deal between them on the principle of a ban, aimed ​at protecting children from "algorithms that are addictive" and content including ​sexual abuse, but could not say when it ⁠would begin, and they have yet to agree on ​how it will be implemented.

"We will decisively protect children and ​young people in future from the negative effects of social media," Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler of the Social Democrats said.

"We will no longer ​stand by and watch while these platforms make our ​children addicted and often also sick ... The risks associated with this use ‌were ⁠ignored for long enough, and now it is time to act," he added.

Australia introduced a social media ban for under-16s in December, the first country to do so. Various ​countries are considering ​or moving towards ⁠similar bans. France's lower house of parliament approved a ban for under-15s in January.

Draft legislation for ​Austria's ban would be drawn up by the ​end ⁠of June, Babler and conservative junior minister for digitization Alexander Proell said.

Babler also said the government would not list individual ⁠platforms ​the ban would apply to but ​rather would decide based on how addictive their algorithms are and whether they include ​content such as "sexualised violence".

Reuters