The Senate of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia passed the Cyber Safety (Minimum Age for Social Media) Amendment Act 2024 on November 28, which prohibits minors under the age of 16 from using most social media platforms. The day before, the House of Representatives passed the bill. The bill has now passed both the House and Senate and is now law. The law, which will be implemented on a trial basis from January next year and come into effect a year later (from November 2025), aims to give the social media companies concerned a concrete way to implement the ban. The Australian government believes the move will help protect the mental health of the target population. The Senate also added a condition to the bill that social media platforms could not force users to submit personal data, such as passports, to prove their age and would need to provide alternatives.
This is the world’s toughest response yet to the issue of teenagers using social media, and the ban is expected to apply to Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, and X, but the list could be expanded.
Reasons for Passing The Bill
Under the new bill, the authorities will pilot a social media age verification system, including biometrics or proof of identity, to enforce age restrictions. This is one of the most stringent controls imposed on social media platforms globally. Under this bill, minors under the age of 16 will not be allowed to use social media platforms even with parental consent, and fines of up to AED 49.5 million can be levied on social media platforms with systematic violations. Additionally, parents and children will not be penalized for flouting the ban, but tech companies will need to prove that they have taken reasonable steps to block underage users.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told lawmakers that “every serious government” was grappling with the impact of social media on young people, and leaders he spoke with applauded Australia’s proactive action on the social issue. Albanese had previously published an opinion piece in local media saying that social media was causing social harm while bringing social benefits. He said social media can be a source of bullying behavior, feelings of anxiety, and a tool for cybercriminals, and that “young people are most at risk because of their enthusiasm.” “We know that social media can be a tool for bullies, a platform for peer pressure, a driver of anxiety, a tool for scammers. Worst of all, it can also be a tool for cyber predators.” Cyber predators are criminals who use the internet to entrap, manipulate or harm others.
Even Australia’s main opposition party, the Liberal Party, supports the bill, with Liberal Senator Maria Kovacic calling it a pivotal moment for the nation. “We have drawn the line. The immense power of big tech companies can no longer go unchecked in Australia.”
However, Albanese said children would have access to text messaging, online gaming, and health and education-related services such as Headspace, a youth mental health support platform, as well as Google Classroom and YouTube, a video site.
Opponents’ Response
Opponents of the bill have called it “over the top,” with some calling for less restrictive measures such as giving parents the option of allowing or prohibiting their children from using social media.
Musk, the owner of Platform X and an advisor to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, commented on the bill, saying, “This seems like a backdoor way to control all Australians’ access to the Internet.” Musk has previously clashed with the Australian government over social media policy. In April, X filed a lawsuit in an Australian court challenging an order from the internet regulator to remove a number of posts about the stabbing of a Sydney bishop, prompting Albanese to call Musk an “arrogant billionaire.”
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, responded by saying they have been continuing to invest in developing tools to enhance the security of their platforms, and that they “strongly” recommend that the government wait for the results of the age-validation trial, which are expected to be released next year. a Meta spokeswoman said the company respected Australian laws, but that it had no concerns about the process. A Meta spokesperson said the company respected Australia’s laws, but it was “concerned” about the process, which had been rushed through without proper consideration of the evidence, the steps the industry had taken to ensure age-appropriate experiences, or the voices of young people.
The Digital Industries Group, a not-for-profit trade association representing Australia’s digital industry, said such legislation could push children into the “dangerous, unregulated realm of the Internet,” a concern echoed by some experts. UNICEF Australia’s Head of Policy and Advocacy, Ms. Maskill, said the proposed legislation was not a “panacea” for protecting young people and that more needed to be done. She added that the bill could push young people into “hidden and unregulated cyberspace”.
Julie Inman-Grant, the Australian government’s cybersecurity commissioner, acknowledged that her office would face a tough task in enforcing the ban, given that “technology will always change faster than policy”. In an interview, she said, “Things are always changing rapidly, which is why regulators like eSafety have to be flexible.”
Despite the opposition, surveys have shown that Australians are generally in favor of the ban, with a poll conducted by YouGov showing that 77 percent of Australians support a social media ban for the country’s under-16s.
Other Countries’ Approaches to Children’s Use of Social Media
Many countries have committed to passing legislation to restrict children’s use of social media, but Australia’s policy is one of the strictest. In addition to Australia, a number of jurisdictions, including France and some states in the U.S., have previously passed regulations restricting minors’ access to social media without parental permission.2023 France has proposed a ban on social media use by children under the age of 15, but users can avoid the ban through parental consent. The U.S. state of Florida sued Meta in its separate federal lawsuit, claiming that Meta misled users about the potential health risks of its products. The interstate federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Meta violated a series of state consumer protection laws, as well as the federal Children’s Privacy Act, which prohibits companies from collecting personal information from children under 13 without parental consent.
The U.S. federal Department of Health and Human Services released a report alerting guardians of minors to the negative effects of social media. According to the report, the use of social media by minors in the U.S. is extremely common, with as many as 95 percent of them in the habit of using social media, and more than one-third of them reporting that they use social media “almost non-stop”. Vivek Murti, director of the U.S. Public Health Service, pointed out in the report that while social media is not without its benefits for minors, such as the ability to build a network of relationships, there is ample evidence that it poses serious risks to their mental health and other well-being. Murti said that social media disseminates “extreme, inappropriate and harmful content” such as body anxiety, overeating, depression, bullying and self-harm, and that children’s exposure to such content at a critical stage of their brain development is detrimental.
