Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Thursday, the 7th of November, that the Australian government will legislate to ban the use of social media by children under the age of 16, calling it a world-leading package that could come into force by the end of next year, reports Reuters.
“Social media is harming our children and I call for an end to it,” Albanese said at a press conference.
He cited the risks that excessive use of social media poses to children’s physical and mental health, in particular the risks to girls’ body image and misogynistic content targeting boys, highlighting the problems that social media pose to young adolescents going through critical stages in their lives.
The legislation will be introduced in the Australian Parliament later this year and will come into force 12 months after it is ratified by lawmakers, Albaniz said.
The opposition Liberal Party has expressed support for the ban.
“Social media platforms will have the burden of proving that they are taking appropriate measures to deny access,” Albanese said. “The onus will not be on parents or young people.” Platform owners will be fined for failing to implement the ban.
The affected platforms will be Instagram and Facebook, as well as TikTok and X. YouTube is also likely to be affected by the ban.
By introducing the world’s first proposals that, among other things, set the highest age limit, and unlike other countries, Australia intends to apply these rules without exceptions for parental consent, Australia is pursuing one of the strongest policies to restrict social media use among children.
Also, no country has so far tried to use age verification methods such as biometrics or national identification data to enforce an age limit on social media – methods that are being tested.
A digital industry group representing Meta, TikTok, X and Alphabet-owned Google said the measure could encourage young people to explore the darker, unregulated parts of the internet while reducing their chances of getting support from social network groups.
Last year, France proposed a ban on social media for those under 15 but allowed users to bypass the ban with parental consent. In the US, technology companies have for years been required to obtain parental consent to collect data from children under 13, which is why most social media platforms block younger children from using their services.