Australia Introduces Bill for Social Media Ban on Under-16s

Australia’s government introduced a bill on Thursday aiming to ban social media use for children under 16, proposing fines of up to A$49.5 million (£25.7 million) for social media platforms in cases of systemic breaches.

To enforce the age restriction, Australia plans to trial an age-verification system, potentially using biometrics or government identification. The proposed measures represent some of the strictest controls globally, setting the highest age limit of any country, with no exemptions for parental consent or pre-existing accounts.

“This is a landmark reform. We know some kids will find workarounds, but we’re sending a message to social media companies to clean up their act,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.

The opposition Liberal Party has indicated its support for the bill, though independents and the Green Party have called for more details. The law would affect platforms such as Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, Bytedance’s TikTok, Elon Musk’s X, and Snapchat.

Albanese clarified that children would still have access to messaging services, online gaming, and platforms related to health and education, including youth mental health support service Headspace, Alphabet’s Google Classroom, and YouTube.

Also Read: Australian Government to Introduce Social Media Ban for Under-16s

The Labor government argues that excessive social media use poses significant physical and mental health risks to children, citing concerns such as harmful body image portrayals for girls and misogynistic content targeting boys.

Several countries have introduced legislation to limit children’s social media use, but Australia’s proposals are among the strictest. France recently proposed a ban for those under 15, allowing parental consent exemptions, while the US has long required parental consent to access the data of children under 13.

“For too many young Australians, social media can be harmful. Almost two-thirds of 14 to 17-year-olds have encountered extremely damaging content online, including drug abuse, suicide, or self-harm,” said Communications Minister Michelle Rowland.

The bill would place responsibility on social media platforms to implement age-verification protections rather than relying on parents or young people. Robust privacy provisions would require platforms to destroy any data collected for verification, safeguarding users’ personal information, Rowland added.

“Social media has a social responsibility … that’s why we are making significant changes to hold platforms accountable for user safety,” she said.

REUTERS/Chidmma Gold