Australia to bring in 'world first' social media ban for under-16s

Australia’s authorities is acceptable to present “world-leading” authorities to prohibition children nether 16 from social media, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced.

Mr Albanese announced the caller bundle of “world-leading” measures that could go instrumentality precocious adjacent year, saying helium is “calling time” connected societal media implicit fears it is “doing harm” to young people.

“This 1 is for the mums and dads... They, similar me, are disquieted sick astir the information of our kids online. I privation Australian families to cognize that the authorities has your back,” helium said.

Australia is trialling an age-verification strategy to assistance successful blocking children from accessing societal media platforms, arsenic portion of the scope of measures that see immoderate of the toughest controls imposed by immoderate state to date.

The Prime Minister cited the risks excessive usage of societal media tin person connected children’s carnal and intelligence health, successful peculiar the risks to girls from harmful depictions of assemblage image, and misogynist contented aimed astatine boys.

"If you're a 14-year-old kid getting this stuff, astatine a clip wherever you're going done life's changes and maturing, it tin beryllium a truly hard clip and what we're doing is listening and past acting," helium said.

A fig of countries person already vowed to curb societal media usage by children done legislation, though Australia's argumentation is 1 of the astir stringent.

No jurisdiction truthful acold has tried utilizing property verification methods similar biometrics oregon authorities recognition to enforce a societal media property cut-off - 2 of the methods being trialled successful Australia.

Australia's different world-first proposals see the highest property bounds acceptable by immoderate country, nary exemption for children who person parental consent, and nary exemption for those who already person accounts.

Legislation volition beryllium introduced into the Australian parliament this year, with the laws coming into effect 12 months aft being ratified by lawmakers, Mr Albanese said.

The absorption Liberal Party has expressed enactment for the ban.

"The onus volition beryllium connected societal media platforms to show they are taking tenable steps to forestall access," Mr Albanese said. "The onus won't beryllium connected parents oregon young people."

"What we are announcing present and what we volition legislate volition beryllium genuinely world-leading," Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said.

Ms Rowland said platforms impacted would see Instagram and Facebook, arsenic good arsenic TikTok and Elon Musk's X. YouTube would apt besides autumn wrong the scope of the legislation, she added.

The platforms person truthful acold not commented connected the projected ban.

The Digital Industry Group, a typical assemblage which includes Meta, TikTok, X and Alphabet's Google arsenic members, said the measurement could promote young radical to research darker, unregulated parts of the net portion cutting their entree to enactment networks.

"Keeping young radical harmless online is simply a apical priority...but the projected prohibition for teenagers to entree integer platforms is simply a 20th Century effect to 21st Century challenges," said DIGI Managing Director Sunita Bose.

"Rather than blocking entree done bans, we request to instrumentality a balanced attack to make age-appropriate spaces, physique integer literacy and support young radical from online harm," she added.

Some opponents assertion that bans lone hold young people’s vulnerability to apps specified arsenic TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, alternatively of teaching them however to navigate analyzable online spaces, with an advocacy radical for kid rights branding the measurement arsenic “too blunt an instrument”.

France past twelvemonth projected a prohibition connected societal media for those nether 15, though users were capable to debar the prohibition with parental consent.

The United States has for decades required exertion companies to question parental consent to entree the information of children nether 13, starring to astir societal media platforms banning under-13s from accessing their services.

The House of Commons Education Committee said tougher guidance connected mobile phones successful schools and however to negociate children’s surface clip astatine location is needed to amended support young people.