Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants to ban social media for under 16s | Social Media News

Legislation to prevent children from accessing social media will be introduced by the Australian parliament later this year and will come into force 12 months after it is approved.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced plans to end a ban on social media for children under the age of 16, a move his government says is the best in the world.

Australian Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said on Thursday that social media platforms affected would include Meta's Instagram and Facebook, as well as Bytedance's TikTok and Elon Musk's X, formerly known as Twitter.

Rowland said YouTube's Alphabet could also fall within the scope of the law.

“Social media is harming our children, and I am calling time,” Prime Minister Albanese said at a press conference.

The law will be introduced in the parliament this year, the laws will come into force after 12 months after the law is approved by the parliaments, he added.

There will be no exemptions for users with parental consent, Albanese said.

“The work will be on social media to show that they are taking appropriate measures to prevent access,” he said.

“The burden will not be on parents or young people,” he added.

A proposed ban on social media for children in Australia was raised earlier this year and received broad bipartisan support in parliament.

The four social media companies targeted for the ban could not be reached for comment.

Many countries have promised to restrict the use of social media among children by law, although Australia's proposal appears to be one of the strongest.

France last year proposed a ban on social media for those under the age of 15, although users have been able to avoid the ban with parental consent.

Earlier this year, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy asked Congress to require social media to include warning labels that explain their effects on young people's lives, similar to the ones that are now mandatory on cigarette boxes.

The US also requires technology companies to seek parental consent to access the data of children under the age of 13, resulting in most social networks blocking those under that age from accessing their services. However, analysts have expressed doubts that it was technically possible to enforce such a ban.

“We already know that current age verification methods are unreliable, too easy to circumvent, or users' privacy at risk,” University of Melbourne researcher Toby Murray said earlier this year.

Australia has been at the forefront of social media enforcement efforts. A local internet site has clashed with Elon Musk's X, accusing the platform of failing to remove harmful posts.

The government also introduced an “anti-disinformation” bill earlier this year, which gives the tech industry more power to breach cyber security obligations.