Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Apple's Tim Cook praised the country's approach to online safety and social-media protections for children, Reuters reported on September 20.
Albanese met Cook during a visit to Apple Park in the United States. According to the Australian leader, their discussions covered online safety, child protection and artificial intelligence among other technology-policy issues.
Australia has introduced a series of measures aimed at protecting younger users on social platforms. These include restrictions on social-media access for children under 16 and efforts to give users greater control over the content displayed in their feeds.
The policies have attracted international attention as governments grapple with how to protect young users from harmful content, algorithmic effects and online exploitation.
Apple provides parental controls, communication-safety features and other protections for children and families across its devices. Platform regulation and device-level safety tools, however, operate in different policy and technical domains.
Albanese also argued for global frameworks around artificial intelligence so that humans retain control over rapidly developing systems. Governments around the world are pursuing different regulatory approaches and timelines for AI.
Critics of age restrictions on social media raise questions about technical enforcement, privacy and possible effects on young people's access to information. Supporters argue that existing platform designs do not provide sufficient safeguards for children.
Australia's experience is being watched because other governments are considering similar measures involving age assurance and online child safety.
Reuters attributed Cook's characterization of the Australian measures to Albanese. Margalla News is not presenting the comment as a formal endorsement by Apple of every element of Australian policy.
Online safety, age verification and AI governance are likely to remain major areas of negotiation between technology companies and governments in the coming years.