Australia becomes first country in the world to ban social media for under-16s
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is acting for all parents as Australia on Wednesday becomes the first country in the world to ban social media accounts for children under 16.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he is acting for all parents as Australia on Wednesday becomes the first country in the world to ban social media accounts for children under 16.
The world-leading minimum age laws, which came into effect at midnight, are the result of News Corp Australia’s instrumental Let Them Be Kids campaign and the determination of the parents of Tilly Rosewarne, Mac Holdsworth, Allem Halkic, Courtney Love, Jessie Tolhurst, Ollie Bannister, Charlotte O’Brien, James Boyd-Gergely, Rohan Cosgriff, Esra Haynes, Cassidy Trevan, Hamish Carter, Jessica Cleland and Dolly Everett – who all died as a result of their social media experiences.
Their stories were pivotal in Mr Albanese taking a stand against the irreparable harm social media has been doing to young Australians for years.
They drove his government to force tech giants to take social responsibility.
“This has not happened overnight. This has come from months and years of campaigning from parents and advocates who have seen the very worst of what social media can do to our young people,” he said.
“This change is for those parents, and all parents.”
Australia is now the first country where it is illegal for social media companies to allow under-16s on their platforms but many are set to follow suit.
Last month, the European Union parliament voted overwhelmingly for a social media ban for under-16s. French President Emmanuel Macron will ban under-15s if Europe does not move fast enough.
Malaysia is looking to mimic Australia’s laws from next year, while New Zealand is also working to implement a similar ban. The UK, South Africa and Fiji are all watching Australia closely
As a show of national pride, landmarks across the country will light up in green and gold on Wednesday night, including Brisbane’s Story Bridge, new Kangaroo Point bridge and Reddacliff Place, the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station.
“We are proud to lead the way,” Mr Albanese said.
Under Australia’s laws, the onus is now on tech platforms to take “reasonable steps” to keep under-16s off their sites or face fines of up to $50m.
The companies must adopt a “waterfall” approach, cannot rely solely on a user’s declared age or a person’s government ID and must take steps to deter circumvention.
Platforms must respond if they identify a VPN has been used and should use their sophisticated language analysis – that can pick up a user’s age based on the emojis and acronyms they use – to determine if someone is under 16.
Their age verification systems should not be “set-and-forget” and must evolve.
“eSafety has prescribed a waterfall approach in our reasonable steps regulatory guidance so that there wasn’t a single point of failure but rather platforms should use multiple signals to correctly detect age and deactivate accounts,” the eSafety Commission said.
From Thursday, the commission will begin sending out information notices, requiring the 10 named platforms – Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, X, Threads, Reddit, Kick and Twitch – to detail how many under-16s were on their sites before the laws begun and how many have been removed.
The same data will be requested every month for six months and eSafety says it “will not hesitate to take enforcement action where it identifies systemic breaches of the law”.
The list of affected platforms is also likely to grow, with eSafety keeping close tabs on “migratory patterns” after nascent social media apps Coverstar, Yope and Lemon8 began surging in the charts in the lead-up to the laws.
The government has tried to temper expectations the law will be an instant success, conceding it won’t be perfect and some under-16s will find a way to stay on the platforms.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that despite the anticipated speed bumps, “this will be a game changer”.
“We know that there will be bumps along the road,” he said.
“We know that people will find their ways around different elements of these new arrangements, but overwhelmingly this will be a game changer for the kids of Australia, the parents of Australia, our country more broadly – and that’s why the rest of the world is paying close attention.”
The laws were passed with bipartisan support last year.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said: “We all want this to work, and the Coalition wants Labor to get this right.
“As Liberal leader, I will never step back from protecting our kids.”
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Originally published as Australia becomes first country in the world to ban social media for under-16s
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