- Australia plans to ban social media for users under 16, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
- The ban comes amid a global push to curb children’s use of social media.
- Some say Australia’s ban is too broad, potentially limiting access to mental health services.
With young people using social media more than ever, and those social media companies perfecting the algorithms that keep them engaged, concerns about social media addiction are taking root around the world. Now, Australia wants to ban social media for everyone under 16.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the plan on Thursday. Australia’s social media ban will be introduced to Parliament during its final session of the year, which begins on November 18. If passed, social media companies will have 12 months to figure out how to keep minors out of their apps before the law takes effect, he said.
“This is for mothers and fathers,” Albanese said at a press conference. “Social media is harming our children and I’m calling time on it.”
Albanese told reporters that the proposed law would “put the onus” on social media companies to show they are taking reasonable steps to keep children out of their apps, rather than on parents.
“There will be no penalties for users,” he said.
Australia’s announcement follows a multi-state lawsuit in the United States that seeks to hold TikTok responsible for deploying “addictive” strategies aimed at children and teenagers.
In October, attorneys general from 14 different states filed lawsuits against TikTok. They said the app is addictive and profits from harming children’s mental health.
Internal TikTok documents from the lawsuit filed in Kentucky showed that TikTok employees determined that new users could become addicted to the app after watching 260 videos. Given that most TikTok videos are about 8 seconds long, Kentucky authorities calculated that a child could be addicted after just 35 minutes of using the app, the document says.
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, lawmakers introduced a bill in October that would require social media companies to exclude children under 16 from algorithms that collect their data. According to The Guardian, the law aims to make it harder for companies to promote addictive content to children.
In Australia, Albanese said social media has infiltrated every part of life, which led him to believe a ban on underage users was “absolutely the right thing to do”.
About 97% of teenagers use social media on various platforms in Australia, according to Reuters.
“That would be the number one discussion outside the school gate, on the tennis, cricket, football, netball, swimming side – as parents get together, it’s something of great concern,” Albanese said.
Albanese called the legislation “world leader”, but some experts oppose the ban, calling it too broad. More than 140 experts from Australia and other countries signed an open letter objecting law, saying the ban doesn’t do enough to address children who need access to critical services through social media, among other concerns.
Jackie Hallan, director at ReachOut, a youth mental health service, told The Associated Press that she also opposed the ban. According to Hallan, 73% of young people in Australia who need mental health services access it through social media.
“We’re not comfortable with the ban,” Hallan told the paper. “We think that young people are likely to overlook a ban and our concern is that it really drives behavior underground and then, if things go wrong, young people are less likely to get support from parents and carers because they worry about getting into trouble.”
Meta’s head of security, Antigone Davis, told The Associated Press that the company will respect any age restrictions the Australian government wants to impose.
“However, what is missing is a deeper discussion about how we implement safeguards, otherwise we risk making ourselves feel better, as if we have taken action, but teenagers and parents will find themselves in no better place.” , Davis said in a statement.
Davis added that stronger parental control tools in app stores and operating systems would be a “simple and effective solution” to keep kids from downloading unwanted apps.