The Australian government has unveiled plans to ban social media use by individuals under 16. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the initiative on Thursday. If ratified, it would represent some of the most stringent child safety laws for digital platforms globally.
This proposed legislation is part of a sweeping package of measures aiming to mitigate the harmful effects of social media on children’s mental and physical health.
Albanese highlighted adolescents’ unique challenges in an era of relentless digital exposure, stating, “Social media is doing harm to our kids, and I’m calling time on it.”
The Australian government has placed a special focus on issues such as body image pressure, which proportionately impacts young girls, and the influence of misogynistic content on boys.
In what may be a first for any country, Australia is mulling a sophisticated age-verification system, which could involve using biometrics and government-issued identification to enforce the age limit on social media accounts. The government aims to ensure that social media platforms, not parents or children, bear the responsibility of regulating underage access.
Once implemented, the law would set the highest age threshold globally, with no allowances for parental consent or pre-existing accounts, making Australia’s approach uniquely strict, reports Reuters.
The legislation will be introduced to Parliament by the end of this year and will put the new restrictions into effect within 12 months of legislative approval. If passed, major platforms such as Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, ByteDance’s TikTok, Elon Musk’s X, and Alphabet’s YouTube will be required to implement mechanisms to verify user ages and prevent underage access.
While Australia’s opposition party has supported the legislation, industry groups and tech advocates have voiced concerns. The Digital Industry Group Inc. (DIGI), which represents companies like Meta, TikTok, X, and Google, raised doubts about the effectiveness of outright bans.
Many people also expressed displeasure on X with the Australian government’s recent decision. “What would stop you from making the account, then transferring it to [child] when she’s 16? The other obvious flaw in the government’s plan is how do they ensure users are over 16?” asked citizens.
The role of artificial intelligence (AI) becomes important here. Recently, Instagram announced that it is planning an AI tool to identify underage teens by 2025.
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