Australia Aims to Protect Kids with World’s First National Social Media Ban
Australia’s states and territories unanimously backed a national plan Friday to ban most forms of social media to children younger than 16.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held a virtual meeting with leaders of the nation’s eight provinces to do what is “necessary to protect kids.”
“Social media is doing social harm to our young Australians and I am calling time on it. The safety and mental health of our young people has to be a priority,” he said during a news conference.
The measure would make platforms including X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook responsible for enforcing the age limit.
Leaders had been discussing for months about setting a limit and considered options for ages 14 to 16 years old. Most states supported the limit at 16, although Tasmania preferred 14.
“We think these laws will make a real positive difference,” Albanese said.
The prime minister cited evidence that there are risks to physical and mental health of children from excessive social media use.
“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.
However, critics of the national plan say most young users are tech savvy enough to get around such laws.
Last month, more than 140 experts in the technology and child welfare fields signed an open letter to Albanese opposing a social media age limit saying it was “too blunt an instrument to address risks effectively.”
Government officials have likened the proposed social media age limit to the laws that restrict the sale of alcohol to adults aged 18 and older across Australia. Children still find ways to drink, bypassing the prohibition.
Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, argues that there are stronger tools available in the app stores and operating systems that allow parents to control what apps their children can use, saying they are a “simple and effective solution.”
Others argue the ban is problematic for other reasons.
Lisa Given, professor of information sciences at RMIT University, told Australian Broadcasting Corp, “There’s no doubt that they’re also facing bullying and other challenges online, but they actually need the social supports to know how to navigate the platforms safely and so they need more support from parents, from care-givers, not less access to a single or multiple platforms.”
Australia’s legislation will be introduced into Parliament within two weeks, and the age ban would take effect a year after it passes into law, giving platforms time to work out how to exclude children.
“I’ve spoken to thousands of parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles. They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online,” Albanese said.
The government has yet to offer a technical solution.
Australia considers its county’s ban on social media a “world-first national approach,” because it has the highest age limit set by any country with no exemptions for parental consent and no exemptions for pre-existing accounts, Reuters reports.
Social Media Protections for US Kids
As CBN News has reported, Florida has signed one of the more restrictive social media laws in the U.S. Starting in January 2025, it will ban children under 13 from creating social media accounts and require parental consent for 14- and 15-year-olds.
Florida is not the only state to take action to limit teens’ exposure to social media.
Last year, Utah had imposed a ban for people under the age of 18 from using social media without consent from a caregiver, The Guardian reports.
However, a federal judge recently blocked the state from enforcing the law by issuing a preliminary injunction.
NetChoice, a tech industry trade group, filed a lawsuit against the state saying the law violated the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment by unduly abridging the social media companies’ free speech rights, Reuters reports.
“The court recognizes the state’s earnest desire to protect young people from the novel challenges associated with social media use,” Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby wrote, adding that “even well-intentioned legislation that regulates speech based on content must satisfy a tremendously high level of constitutional scrutiny.”
In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams designated social media as an environmental toxin and public health hazard.
“It’s a situation where kids can’t stay off the platforms, and as a result of that, they have been trapped in an environment that harms their mental health,” Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Paul Renner said earlier this year.
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