SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Thursday that his government will introduce “world-leading” legislation to ban social media use for children under the age of 16.
“Social media is doing harm to our kids and I’m calling time on it,” Albanese told a news conference.
He said that the legislation would be part of a new initiative aimed at safeguarding the mental health of young people. The legislation would be introduced later this month, with the laws coming into effect 12 months after it passed by the parliament, Albanese said.
Under the new rules, social media companies will be required to prevent access to their platforms for users under 16. Failure to comply could result in fines.
Albanese said that the responsibility would lie with the companies, not with parents or young people themselves.
“The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate that they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access. There’ll be no penalties for users,” he explained.
The age restrictions are part of a broader set of measures introduced by Albanese’s center-left Labor government aimed at regulating the tech industry.
The government has long held that technology giants are responsible for fueling misinformation and contributing to mental health issues.
Australia has a history of taking on large tech companies, including a 2021 initiative to force Facebook and Google to pay for news content.
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More recently, the government took legal action against Elon Musk’s X Corp. (formerly Twitter) for failing to remove a video depicting a terrorist attack in Sydney.
The Prime Minister said that he acknowledged that the new laws may not immediately resolve the issue. He said that that social change can take time. “I don’t expect these laws to be fully effective overnight,” he said.
Australian’s Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said that platforms impacted from the ban would include Meta Platforms’ Facebook and Instagram, TikTok and X.
Alphabet’s YouTube would likely also fall within the scope of the legislation, she added.
While officials have stated that consultations with social media companies on age limits have taken place, they did not clarify which platforms would be impacted, how the ban would be enforced, or what penalties companies could face for non-compliance.
