State’s tween account ban new front in Australia’s battle with social media

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas is seeking backing from federal and state governments for his tween social media ban, as Elon Musk had a win in his censorship fight over footage of last month’s Sydney church stabbing.

Malinauskas announced on the weekend he had engaged former High Court chief justice Robert French to explore how the state could ban children under 14 from making social media accounts. The proposal would force 14- and 15-year-olds to gain parental consent.

SA Premier Peter Malinauskas says there’s a strong moral basis for protecting children from online harm in their formative years.Credit: iStock

In an interview with this masthead, Malinauskas acknowledged that technological complexity would probably lead to some children finding ways to break the rules. But he said the same could be said of laws banning underage drinking.

“Do kids drink underage less as a result of those restrictions? Of course they do,” he said, adding there was a strong moral basis for protecting children from online harm in their formative years.

Malinauskas revealed he had spoken to state premiers and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland in recent days about his plan, saying he was willing to help drive national co-ordination on regulating big tech. Rowland this month announced a pilot of age-verification technology.

French will examine whether a state creating laws in the field of communications is legal under the Constitution, which confers responsibility for communications on the federal government.

A war of words between Musk and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over the removal of videos of the Wakeley church stabbing sparked weeks of debate about online harm, prompting Labor to re-litigate its crackdown on online misinformation and launch an inquiry into tech giants.

Last month, the eSafety Commissioner won a temporary court injunction to force Musk’s X Corp to hide videos of the incident after the social media platform rebuffed the regulator’s take-down order.

Musk had argued that by blocking the video to all Australians – including those using networks that hid their location – the watchdog was in effect seeking a global ban outside its jurisdiction.

Justice Geoffrey Kennett on Monday rejected the regulator’s bid to extend the injunction until a full trial could be held.

“The orders of the court will be that the application to extend … is refused,” he said. A full statement on the reasons for his judgment will be released in the coming days.

The decision does not represent a final legal win for X in the case. A case management hearing on Wednesday will decide on a date for the full trial, probably next month, at which the merits of the take-down order will be tested.

But senior legal sources involved in the case, who were not authorised to speak publicly, said Monday’s interim decision was an important win for X that proved the legitimacy of its case.

“Not trying to win anything. I just don’t think we should be suppressing Australian’s [sic] rights to free speech,” Musk posted on X in response to a news article on the court ruling.

The injunction had forced X to hide about 65 posts that included videos of the Wakeley church stabbing.

Authorities suspect the alleged attacker was motivated by religious extremism, and police and eSafety have raised concerns the video could be used to radicalise people online.

But X lawyer Bret Walker, SC, last week argued the video was not sufficiently graphic to meet the legal threshold for removal under Australian law.

“It would be a travesty,” Walker added, to suggest the video advocated for people to commit acts of terrorism.

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