The Australian government will legislate for a ban on social media for children under 16, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday, in what it calls a world-leading package of measures that could become law late next year.
Australia is trialing an age-verification system to assist in blocking children from accessing social media platforms, as part of a range of measures that include some of the toughest controls imposed by any country to date. “Social media is doing harm to our kids and I’m calling time on it,” Albanese told a news conference.
Albanese cited the risks to physical and mental health of children from excessive social media use, in particular the risks to girls from harmful depictions of body image, and misogynist content aimed at boys.
“If you’re a 14-year-old kid getting this stuff, at a time where you’re going through life’s changes and maturing, it can be a really difficult time and what we’re doing is listening and then acting,” he said.
A number of countries have already vowed to curb social media use by children through legislation, though Australia’s policy is one of the most stringent.
No jurisdiction so far has tried using age verification methods like biometrics or government identification to enforce a social media age cut-off, two of the methods being trialed.
Australia’s other world-first proposals are the highest age limit set by any country, no exemption for parental consent and no exemption for pre-existing accounts.
Legislation will be introduced into the Australian parliament this year, with the laws coming into effect 12 months after being ratified by lawmakers, Albanese said. The opposition Liberal Party has expressed support for a ban.
There will be no exemptions for children who have parental consent, or who already have accounts.
“The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access,” Albanese said. “The onus won’t be on parents or young people.”
“What we are announcing here and what we will legislate will be truly world leading,” Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said.
Rowland said platforms impacted would include Meta Platforms’ (META.O), opens new tab Instagram and Facebook, as well as Bytedance’s TikTok and Elon Musk’s X. Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O), opens new tab YouTube would likely also fall within the scope of the legislation, she added. TikTok declined to comment, while Meta, Alphabet and X did not respond to requests for comment.
