Australia's government is saying that they will introduce "World-Leading" legislation to ban social media for children under 16. The following week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, suggested legislation will be introduced in parliament to lessen the harm that social media brings to children."This one is for the parents; they are concerned about their children's safety on social media sites. While many aspects remain to be determined, the government has stated that the ban will not apply to young people who are currently active on social media.
There will be no exemption to the age limit for minors with parental consent. According to the authorities, social media platforms must demonstrate that they are taking reasonable measures to restrict access. Albanese indicated that there would be no consequences for users and that it would be up to Australia's internet regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, to implement the rules. The legislation would go into force 12 months after it was passed and would be revisited thereafter. While most experts feel that social media platforms can have an impact on adolescents' mental health, many differ about the efficacy of completely banning them.
Prohibitions, according to some observers, only delay the introduction of apps like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to youth, rather than teaching them how to navigate complex online environments. Previous attempts to restrict access, such as those by the European Union, have mostly failed or elicited objections from industry titans. There are also questions regarding how implementation would work, given that some technology can circumvent age-verification norms. One of Australia's biggest child rights advocacy groups has condemned the proposed restriction as "too blunt an instrument". In an open letter to the government signed by over 100 academics and 20 civil society organizations in October, the Australian Child Rights Taskforce urged Albanese to think about enforcing "safety standards" on social media sites.
The organization further referenced UN guidelines that "national policies" pertaining to online spaces "should be aimed at providing children with the opportunity to benefit from engaging with the digital environment and ensuring their safe access to it."Other grassroots groups have asked Australia's government to implement the restrictions, stating that they are important to protect children from harmful content, misinformation, bullying, and other social pressures. A petition by the 36Months initiative, which has over 125,000 signatures, argues that children are "not yet ready to navigate online social networks safely" until at least 16, and that "excessive social media use is rewiring young brains within a critical window of psychological development, causing an epidemic of mental illness".
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