Ban coming for social media use by under 16s

Australia will lead the world in banning social media for children and young teenagers with new legislation Anthony Albanese hopes will become law late next year.

The Prime Minister announced a suite of measures on Thursday (7 November) that he said was overdue and much needed in order to counter the risks of health and mental health on young people.

The ban will be for children under 16.

“This one’s for the mums and dads,” Mr Albanese said.

“Social media is doing harm to our kids and I’m calling time on it. I’ve spoken to thousands of parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles.

“They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online. And I want Australian parents and families to know that the government has your back.

“I want parents to be able to say, ‘Sorry mate, it’s against the law for me to get you to do this’.

“We don’t argue that the changes that we will be legislating will fix everything immediately. We have laws such as people can’t buy alcohol if they’re under 18, and from time to time that can be broken.

“But those laws set what the parameters are for our society and they assist in ensuring the right outcomes.

“Now the Government’s proposed age is 16 – that decision was made in Cabinet on Monday. And that proposal will go to the National Cabinet meeting that I’m convening online, a virtual meeting, tomorrow morning (Friday).”

While some countries have already set in train laws to curb social media use by children, none has tried using biometrics or government identification methods as the Albanese government is proposing here.

The age limit is set higher than in other countries, too.

“The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access,” the PM said.

“The onus won’t be on parents or young people. There will be no penalties for users.”

The eSafety Commissioner will provide oversight and enforcement, and legislation will come into force 12 months after its successful passage.

There will be a review of the legislation following its start.

“We want to make sure that it is got right,” Mr Albanese said.

“The eSafety Commissioner will issue regulatory guidance setting out what reasonable steps can be taken by platforms and that will be informed by the age assurance trial.

“A new definition of age-restricted social media platform will be adapted from the existing Online Safety Act definition of social media service for the purpose of the age limit.

“This definition will have flexibility to be narrowed through regulations because we want to make sure, for example, that young people can continue to access educational services.

“We will introduce privacy protections for information collected for age assurance purposes. The legislation won’t feature grandfathering arrangements.”

The Federal Opposition has so far expressed support for a ban, as have state and territory governments.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said social media platforms have shown that they can not be left to themselves to protect young users.

“We know that social media offers many benefits to Australians, including to young people, as a way of keeping connected, of finding their tribe, of making sure that young people who may otherwise be isolated by geography or other factors have that connection,” the Minister said.

“But we also know that it brings many harms. As a mother of two young daughters, I understand this personally. I understand this from family and friends. I understand this from my community, as would every Member of Parliament.

“I want to say to those parents, just as the Prime Minister did when it comes to protecting children from the harms caused by content or addictive behaviours as a result of social media, we are on your side.

“The fact is that social media has a social responsibility, but the platforms are falling short.”

Act for Kids, an organisation that delivers evidence-led professional therapy and support services to children and families who have experienced or are at risk of harm, welcomed the news, saying it was right to put greater emphasis on social media giants and their own provisions to protect children from online harm.

However, chief executive officer Katrina Lines said stronger protections needed to be put in place for all social media users.

“We also acknowledge there is not yet effective technology in place for age assurance or to verify parental consent,” Dr Lines said.

“Act for Kids wants to see more commitment from the Federal Government that they will hold social media companies accountable for improving the safety and well-being of all social media users.

“We will continue to strongly urge parents and carers to empower children with the knowledge they need to stay safe online, noting Act for Kids own research found 55 per cent of parents allow children unsupervised access to the internet.”