The Australian government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has announced a groundbreaking law that will prohibit social media use for children under 16. This pioneering legislation is set to take effect by the end of next year and includes a testing phase for an age verification system aimed at preventing minors from accessing popular social media platforms.
Albanese emphasized the detrimental effects of social media on children's physical and mental health, particularly highlighting issues such as body image disorders among girls and misogynistic content targeting boys. He stated, “What we are doing is paying attention to these issues and then acting.”
The law will apply universally, with no exemptions even with parental consent, and will also affect existing user accounts. Australia’s approach is among the strictest globally, with no other country implementing such comprehensive age verification methods like biometric or government identification checks, which are currently in experimental stages in Australia.
The proposed regulations will be presented to the Australian Parliament this year, with a 12-month implementation period following legislative approval. Social media platforms will bear the responsibility to demonstrate reasonable measures to prevent underage access, facing fines for non-compliance.
According to Michelle Rowland, Australia’s Minister for Communications, children under 16 will be barred from using platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, and even YouTube. Responses from the affected companies have been minimal, with TikTok declining to comment, while Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, suggested that parental consent and age verification could be better solutions than an outright ban.
While countries like France have proposed similar restrictions for users under 15 with parental consent loopholes, the U.S. has long required parental permission for data handling of children under 13, effectively barring access to many social media services for this age group.