Australia proposes roadmap to limit age of social media usage

Millions of Australian children could be banned from using social media platforms under state-by-state legislation to better protect minors from online dangers.

On May 20, the leaders of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria agreed to propose raising the minimum age for using major platforms such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram owned by Meta.

Under the proposal, children aged 13 to 16 would need parental consent to access social media accounts. New South Wales Premier Chris Minns wants the minimum age for social media users to be 16, while his Queensland counterpart Steven Miles is pushing for 14.

Earlier in May, South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas asked the former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to consider ways for the South Australian government to impose a social media ban on children under 14. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan did not specify a minimum age but called for platforms to raise their limits or for the Australian government to set its own.

Amid growing concerns about children’s access to online content and the mental health impacts of social media, the Australian Government has announced it will spend AU$6.5 million (US$4.4 million) in its budget to pilot “age-safe technologies” to test their effectiveness and investigate how they can be implemented to prevent children from accessing inappropriate and harmful online content.

Prime Minister Albanese said it was time for Australia to take strong and effective action on the issue, and the government also allocated a $43.2 million (US$29 million) media budget to address “existing and growing online harms”.

In addition, 1.4 million AUD ($938,000) will be allocated to the office of the online safety watchdog for 2 years. According to 9news, the Australian Government also established a joint standing committee to consider the consequences of online content on society.

HAPPY CHI