We tax big tobacco due to its health impact. Why not social media companies?

Mental health advocates say the federal government is failing young people by pushing social media bans instead of improving access to unaffordable psychology services, calling for a levy on social media companies to subsidise the sector.

A Black Dog Institute analysis of ABS data suggests more than 2.3 million Australians need mental healthcare but aren’t getting it, with more people going without care than receiving treatment.

Mental health organisations say social media can provide free access to support for young people. Credit: Getty Images

Black Dog executive director Professor Sam Harvey said the figures, drawn from the ABS’s National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing, assumed that people receiving care were receiving adequate care, which was not always the case given the prohibitive cost.

“We are seeing more anxiety and depression symptoms than ever before in young people – for the first time we are handing on worse mental health outcomes to the next generation,” he said.

“And the irony is we have better mental health treatments than ever before.”

A recent poll of 2500 Australians conducted by Black Dog found cost was the major barrier to young people seeking mental healthcare.

While half of all respondents cited cost as a key reason for not seeking or delaying seeking mental health help, 60 per cent of young people said cost was a significant barrier – more than any other age group.

Earlier this year, Black Dog and two other organisations, ReachOut and Beyond Blue, raised concerns about the possibility of banning teenagers from social media due to its opportunity for social connection and access to wellbeing services.

The organisations use platforms such as Instagram and TikTok to publish mental health advice and direct users to support services.

Harvey said, while the evidence was clear that social media was contributing to the mental health epidemic and could promote health misinformation, a levy on social media companies to fund mental health services and research would be better than banning teenage accounts.

“That’s a more productive policy discussion than endless debates on age limits,” he said.

“If we look at previous public health problems, once we understood that cigarettes imposed on our health system, we imposed a tax on cigarette companies to pay for that.”

In their co-authored submission to the federal joint select committee on social media and Australian society, the organisations said social media companies should also be forced to give users more control over their algorithms and limit harmful features, such as infinite scrolling.

The next meeting of health and mental health ministers, which will focus on child and youth mental health, is slated for early 2025. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised a social media ban by the end of this year.

Asked about the organisations’ concerns, federal Health Minister Mark Butler defended the social media ban.

“We’ve seen an alarming increase in levels of mental distress among young people, not just here in Australia, but around the world for the last 20 years,” he said.

“It is increasingly clear that the explosion in social media is one of the drivers behind this increase in distress.”

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