SA premier Peter Malinauskas details proposed social media ban

Premier Peter Malinauskas has urged social media giants to work with his government as it seeks to ban children under 14 from joining the damaging platforms.

Social media giants are being urged to work with the state government as it seeks to legislate a ban on children under the age of 14 from the platforms.

Premier Peter Malinauskas said there was growing evidence about the harm social media was having on children’s mental health.

The government has engaged a former High Court chief justice to review the constitutional practicalities of implementing the age ban that Mr Malinauskas said would replicate a similar law enacted in the United States.

“Put simply, we are seeking to replicate what the state of Florida has recently signed into law,” Mr Malinauskas told ABC radio.

The ban would be the first of its kind in Australia.

Under Florida law, children under the age of 14 are prohibited from joining social media platforms, while those aged 14 or 15 need parental consent before signing up.

Premier Peter Malinauskas says a former High Court chief justice has been engaged to advise on the constitutional practicalities of a social media ban for children. Picture: Tom Huntley

“We think it is a good thing,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“The motivation for this … is the proliferation of young people using mobile phones and social media has been extreme over the course of the last decade to the extent that they are spending, on average, three to four hours a day on social media and up to eight hours.”

He said that use was having a “deleterious impact” on their mental health.

While acknowledging the complexity in legislating and implementing an age ban, Mr Malinauskas said it would be better if the owners of social media platforms including Facebook or Meta, TikTok and X, worked with his government.

Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP

“My message to (the owners) is work with us, not against us,” he said.

“The other area (of complexity) is the matter of law, and that is why we’ve engaged arguably the best mind in the country, particularly around constitutional law, in former chief justice of the High Court who has volunteered his services to advise how to best implement this policy.”

Mr Malinauskas said the same rules and regulations that stop children from accessing betting apps could be used and it was time to take action against social media platforms.

“Let me give you an analogy,” he said.

“If a 13-year-old wakes up this morning in Australia and decides they’re going to download a sports-betting account and try to set up their own account, they won’t be able to do it.

“Now, we’ve been able to achieve it for sports betting or online bookmakers. I think we should be able to achieve it with social media platforms.”

Opposition Leader David Speirs said it was a “worthy pursuit of the premier”.

“If South Australia can lead the nation and perhaps the world, I will be right behind the premier,” he said.

“It will be very interesting to hear the former chief justice’s recommendations when he comes out with them.”