Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans to ban children under 16 from accessing social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok, citing concerns over the negative impact these platforms have on young users. Albanese emphasized that tech companies will be held accountable for enforcing the age restrictions, facing substantial fines if they fail to prevent underage users from accessing their services.
“Australia is taking a stand for parents. Social media is harming our kids, and it’s time to act,” Albanese declared outside parliament. The proposal would place Australia among the most stringent countries globally in regulating children’s access to social media. The new laws are set to be presented to state and territory leaders this week and introduced to parliament by late November. Once enacted, platforms will have a one-year period to devise compliance strategies.
According to Albanese, the responsibility for ensuring compliance will rest entirely with the platforms, not parents or young people. The proposed age restrictions are intended to be “world-leading,” with robust penalties for non-compliance. Major platforms like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, expressed readiness to comply with government mandates, though Meta’s Head of Safety, Antigone Davis, advised caution, warning that poorly executed regulations could have unintended consequences for teenagers’ access to mental health support and other resources.
Representatives from the digital industry also voiced concerns. A spokesperson for DIGI, a tech industry association, noted, “Banning social media isn’t the only solution. Teaching responsible use could help teens navigate the online world more safely.”
Amid rising reports of cyberbullying, harmful content, and misinformation, Albanese and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland argued that social media companies must improve safety standards. “Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and X have continuously fallen short in safeguarding users,” Rowland stated, emphasizing that financial penalties could be severe. She suggested that existing fines of around AUD $1 million (approximately USD $600,000) might be increased to reflect the substantial revenue of tech giants.
Experts, however, raised concerns about the practicality of enforcing age restrictions. Toby Murray, a researcher at the University of Melbourne, commented on the current inadequacies of age verification methods, citing potential privacy risks and the ease with which they can be bypassed.
Australia’s planned restrictions align with a global movement to regulate children’s social media access. Spain recently set a minimum social media age of 16, while Florida will introduce a law in January restricting under-14s from creating social media accounts. Similarly, France mandates age verification and parental consent for users under 15. In China, minors face strict limitations on social media usage, with those under 14 restricted to 40 minutes per day on Douyin, the local version of TikTok, and limits also apply to online gaming.
Australia has recently increased its regulatory oversight of the tech sector, introducing a “combating misinformation” bill and moving to ban non-consensual “deepfake” content. Yet, efforts to enforce content regulations on platforms like X, formerly Twitter, have been met with legal challenges, with tech mogul Elon Musk criticizing the government’s actions as authoritarian.
With these upcoming social media restrictions, Australia aims to lead in protecting young people’s well-being, ensuring that the digital space is safer for future generations.
