Australia set on banning children from social media: Legislation plans explained

Australia is set to introduce new minimum age limits for children accessing social media, proposing that kids under 14 be banned from using the platforms.

As announced by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on September 10, his government plans to introduce a nationwide cut-off age for social media access, although a proper age limit has yet to be set.

According to a report by High Court Chief Justice Robert French, they want to set the age limit to 14. However, the Prime Minister said in his “personal view” the minimum age should be set at 16.

The government is currently waiting for the conclusion of an age-verification trial, which is set to begin its final phase of testing imminently. Albanese said they will specify an age limit once the trial has ended.

Australia’s child social media ban explained

The push for the ban initially came from South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, who commissioned French to outline legislation that establishes a minimum age to access social media platforms.

In French’s report, he proposed a bill that would ban any child under the age of 14 from accessing social media. Kids aged 14 or 15 would require parental consent.

The bill imposes obligations for social media platforms to implement new systems that will stop underaged children from accessing their platforms and that will get parental consent.

The age-verification trail that Albanese’s legislation is waiting on was announced back in May, however at the time, it only focused on restricting access to adult content.

In July, the trial expanded its tests to also include restricting children from social media sites, however has yet to determine an appropriate minimum age. Nor is there any word on a method for how the new rules will be enforced.

Albanese said of the ban in his announcement, “I want to see kids off their devices and onto the footy fields and the swimming pools and the tennis courts, we want them to have real experiences with real people.

“Because we know that social media is causing social harm. This is a scourge, and we know that there are mental health consequences.”