Australia banned children from social media and the world was watching – very closely

London: It is the worry of parents worldwide, hugely popular with voters and Australia’s crackdown could now potentially lead to a global domino effect of teenage social media bans driven by politicians eager to please a key demographic.

Governments have watched the federal government’s fight against tech giants Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, Reddit and X as they strive to safeguard teens from online bullying and grooming. The world-first laws have sparked a flurry of attention around the globe, from Delhi to Moscow and Washington, with media outlets devoting column inches and hours of airtime to the debate.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants to make social media safer for children.Credit: Michaela Pollock

Tech companies have criticised the plan with Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, calling the law “rushed” and difficult to enforce. Snapchat has warned of “unintended consequences”.

The fiercest opposition has come from X, whose billionaire owner Elon Musk called the law “a backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians”.

The Australian ban, which will not take effect for at least 12 months, could see the social media giants fined up to $50 million for not taking reasonable measures to monitor the age of users. It is not the first attempt to limit children’s social media use, but it involves the highest age limit (16) set by any country, and does not include exemptions for existing users or those with parental consent.

In Paris, laws introduced last year prevented users under the age of 15 from accessing social media platforms, but President Emmanuel Macron’s coalition government is now likely to make a pitch to fellow European Union members to come up with a bloc-wide solution.

The French government, Politico EU reports, will now renew its push to keep teens off social media before they turn 15, as the world takes Australia’s lead.

French Education Minister Anne Genetet said this week EU should follow the example of Australia amid increased concern among European politicians about social media platforms, their addictive features and their role in teens’ mental health crises.

“We would like that something very similar could be put in place, enforced in Europe,” Genetet said. “We absolutely urgently need something to be put in place.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen wants a 15- and-over age minimum on social media, while European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has floated an EU-wide inquiry on the effects of social media on young people’s mental health.

Blick, a Zurich-based newspaper, on Thursday featured an interview with Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, who was responsible for the legislation. The paper cited a survey claiming 78 per cent of people in Switzerland think children aged 16 and under should not be able to access social media.

“The Land of Kangaroos has just accepted a bill to fine social networks that tolerate accounts opened by children to the tune of millions. Blick asked the Australian Minister of Communication how and why it was urgent to act. And Michelle Rowland answered us!” it read.

In Russia, state-run news agency TASS published an online article announcing the bill had been approved. It pointed out two of the platforms Australian children would likely be unable to access, Instagram and Facebook, had already been banned and “recognised as extremist” by the Kremlin.

One of India’s largest newspapers, the Hindi-language daily Amar Ujala, reported concerns about the laws, including Greens senator David Shoebridge’s warning “children from rural areas and the LGBTQ community” would be harmed.

“Many critics said that the law could be difficult to implement. They hoped that the government would conduct another study on it, which would tell how children can be kept out of social media in the right way,” the story read.

The US has wrestled with what to do with social media’s impact on kids for some months. Earlier this year, Florida banned children under 14 from using some platforms – that is now subject of a constitutional legal challenge.

In Utah, laws introduced in 2023 that banned people under 18 from using social media unless they had consent from their parents, were later overturned by a federal court.

The Washington Post pointed out that many Australian details remain vague, including how social media companies will verify someone’s age.

“One possibility is to require government-issued identification. Some critics claim the personal information of millions of Australians would be a target for hackers,” it read. Rowland has said companies must destroy the data and faced fines for misusing it.

In the UK, news outlets have followed the debate closely, particularly after Labour’s Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said he would consider pursuing similar laws.

“I am committed to using all the tools at our disposal from monitoring the impact of new laws, creating more and better evidence, and working with online safety campaigners and charities to achieve this goal”.

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