During a press conference, Albanese described social media as "doing harm to our kids" and emphasized the government's decision to take decisive action. Australia's Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, announced on Thursday that the government will introduce legislation to ban social media use for children under the age of 16. During a press conference, Albanese described social media as "doing harm to our kids" and emphasized the government's decision to take decisive action.
The new legislation will be introduced in Parliament later this year and, if ratified, will come into effect 12 months afterward. The ban will apply to popular social media platforms such as Meta's Instagram and Facebook, TikTok (owned by ByteDance), X (formerly Twitter), and potentially YouTube (owned by Alphabet). According to Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, there will be no exemptions, even for children whose parents provide consent.
In a significant shift, the responsibility for enforcing the ban will fall on the social media platforms themselves. The government will require companies to demonstrate that they are taking reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from accessing their services, rather than putting the onus on parents or young users. Australia is not alone in its concerns over the effects of social media on young people.
Several countries have introduced or are considering policies to limit children’s use of these platforms. Last year, France proposed a similar ban for users under .
