The ban aims to protect young people and encourage outdoor activities.
The Australian government plans to introduce legislation prohibiting social media use for children under 16, announced Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday, according to AFP.
“This is for the parents. Social media is genuinely harmful to children, and I intend to put an end to it,” Albanese stated. Under the proposal, tech companies and internet platforms would be responsible for enforcing age restrictions, while parents and minors themselves would not face penalties.
The proposed legislation will be presented to state and territory officials this week and is expected to be introduced to Parliament in late November. Albanese initially proposed setting a minimum social media age limit earlier this year without specifying an age. Previous proposals for such regulations have garnered bipartisan support across Australia.
The age restriction is intended to encourage kids to put down their devices and get back “to the football fields, swimming pools, and tennis courts,” as Albanese told ABC News in September.
However, Carly Dober, President of the Australian Psychological Association, has criticized the proposed restrictions, arguing that they don’t address the root issues. “This is a temporary fix for a complex and deeply entrenched problem,” she told AAP. She emphasized that harmful content, including hate speech and misogynistic, racist, and sexist material, would persist online. Additionally, children would still be targeted by sophisticated ads designed to lure them toward various products and services.
