Peter Malinauskas has addressed a summit in Sydney regarding the dangers of social media for young people

Premier Peter Malinauskas has relayed horror stories about the impact of social media from parents who have lost children.

Premier Peter Malinauskas has relayed stories of “unimaginable horror” and “indescribable grief” from families who have lost children and demanded government action to stop social media doing more harm.

Delivering a keynote address at a two-day social media summit, Mr Malinauskas opened by quoting from parents whose children had taken their own lives about the horrendous impacts of social media.

“Every one of them is a snapshot of a family that has experienced unimaginable horror, indescribable grief,” Mr Malinauskas said.

“And for every family that has endured that set of circumstance, there are countless others out there that are engaged with children, providing them unconditional love in the knowledge that they are still experiencing childhood depression or a form of childhood anxiety.

“Each story is more than a loss of a loved and valued young person. It’s also the loss of a future and everything that person could do, of everything that person can be. And each story, it tells us the same thing. We know we simply must act.”

Premier Peter Malinauskas speaks at the Social Media Summit at ICC Darling Harbour Sydney. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Speaking in Sydney at the summit co-hosted by NSW and SA governments, Mr Malinauskas said society could no longer pretend that access to smartphones and 24/7 social media was not a seismic shift for children growing up.

“The results are in. The science is settled. We know for a fact that social media has changed childhood, and it is doing our children harm,” he said.

“ … We have the capacity and the ability to ensure that young people and future generations are able to harness the good of social media, but also dispense with the bad. That is a core cause worthy of preservation. That is a cause worthy of urgent pursuit.

“The political framework is there. The desire amongst parents and young people exists to make this change.”

Premier Peter Malinauskas and NSW Premier Chris Minns at a press conference at the Social Media Summit at ICC Darling Harbour Sydney. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

The two-day summit will move to Adelaide on Friday, where speakers will include ASIO director Mike Burgess and internationally renowned social psychologist and best-selling author Jonathan Haidt

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed to impose a minimum age for social media use in this term of government.

This followed Mr Malinauskas in September releasing draft legislation which would ban children under 14 from signing up and require tech companies to gain parental consent before allowing 14 or 15 year olds to use their platforms.

A $6.5m trial of “age assurance technology” to enforce the new federal laws – such as biometric age estimation, email verification and account confirmation processes – will begin later this month.

Mobile phone use in all public schools was banned in mid-2023, which incident reporting data released in August revealed had led to a 63 per cent decline in incidents involving social media.

Originally published as Peter Malinauskas has addressed a summit in Sydney regarding the dangers of social media for young people