Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed the concept of prohibiting children from registering for social media accounts until they are 16, citing the serious harm that excessive online activity may cause to their mental health.
The governments all across Australia are planning to impose a ban that is not yet defined on social media for younger teenagers and children before the next election. The ban will refrain them from accessing social media in order to shield them from harmful content and the negative effects of excessive online activity.
The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese aims to introduce the legislation before the parliament by the end of 2024. The legislation is to block children younger or up to a certain age which is likely to be between 14 to 16 from social media and other related digital platforms. It will come after a $6.5 million trial of age verification or assurance technology, which was included in the May budget.
It followed South Australia’s plan, unveiled on Monday, to restrict access to persons aged 14 and up, as well as the Coalition’s announcement earlier this year that if it won the next election, it would bar minors under 16 from using social media within 100 days.
Although the real question remains what are the measures and methods that will be used and the enforcement and effectiveness of the ban.
Chris Minns, the NSW premier states that the ideal age limit for social media should be 16. He noted, “There’ll be a lot of 16-year-olds where that isn’t old enough, to be honest with you, when you consider what you’re exposed to as a result of being on social media.”
Minns has been advocating for this change but has also put forward his concerns about the enforceability at the state level. He further emphasized the ban needs a unified national approach. NSW would host a social media summit to address the concerns relating to the introduced ban, Minns announced. At the summit this year, ways to protect teens and children from social media harm will be explored.
Steven Miles, the Queensland premier suggested that the age limit for social media use should be 14.
Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan requested for a national response which is further citing social media’s involvement to make the situation of antisemitism, racism, and gender-based violence worse.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has backed the concept of prohibiting children from registering for social media accounts until they are 16, citing the serious harm that excessive online activity may cause to their mental health. The Prime Minister recommends raising the minimum age for social media registration from 13 to 16, giving teenagers more time to develop without the demands of online social connections.
The federal government in Australia proposed a tender for the age assurance trial on Tuesday with details of what will be a part of it. Instagram among other social media sites has previously employed limited age verification for their users.
The eSafety commissioner suggested a “double blind token approach” in last year’s roadmap for age verification. The third party provider transfers their proof of age information in the device based token. The information is sent between sites and age assurance providers to protect the privacy of the users.
The parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Meta has also advocated verification on the device level – meaning Google and Apple would verify the ages of people wanting to download specific social media apps.
If a method pursued by the government which requires the companies users and not only the younger users to verify their ages before being able to use a platform, could result in the social media companies being forced to collect user identification. This may raise privacy questions.
This may be the less viable option taking into consideration the cyber attacks that are already attacking the companies that require to collect ID, Optus and Medibank – that led to the personal information of millions of Australians being exposed.
The government may enforce the use of its proposed digital ID service to decrease risk, although this has yet to be decided. Legislation should also consider what happens to emerging social media firms or lesser-known platforms that younger people may use if they are unable to access the major giants. As French mentioned, for platforms with limited presence in Australia, this may be difficult to enforce.
