From the perspective of the Australian government, social media endangers the well-being of children and young people. They should therefore be banned for under 16 year olds. Parliament has now passed the law.
The new law changes a lot for twelve-year-old Ruby Legassic. So far, she has uploaded photos and videos from her cheerleading training to Instagram and TikTok several times a week. This is over with the new social media law. “I feel like I don’t even notice what my friends are doing anymore because they usually post it.” She will not be allowed to use social networks again in Australia until she celebrates her 16th birthday.
After the Australian House of Representatives, the Senate has now also passed the minimum age law. This makes Australia a global pioneer. A friend of Ruby’s sees the advantages and disadvantages of the ban. “The good thing is that it’s becoming safer, there are really disgusting people online. The disadvantage is that we make friends on social media, see where they are and communicate a lot via the platforms.”
Platforms responsible for age control
For the Australian government, the dangers to young people from social media outweigh the risks. Australia’s Communications Minister Michelle Rowland recently said that almost two-thirds of 14 to 17-year-olds in Australia have viewed very harmful content online – including drug abuse, suicide, self-harm and violent material. It does not hold the parents or children responsible, but rather the platform operators of Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X or Snapchat.
They must implement age verification according to the new law. From now on you have a year to do this. If they don’t do this, they face fines of up to 31 million euros, according to the new law. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had repeatedly emphasized in advance that tech companies must live up to their responsibilities. “It’s about giving children a childhood. There’s nothing social about some social media keeping our young Australians away from real friends and real experiences.”
Data protection concerns
Companies like Meta, TikTok and Snapchat criticized the law. They would have liked the government to first wait for the results of a group of experts convened to verify age. The law leaves open how exactly age control is implemented. It is conceivable to check the age of all users in Australia using biometric data such as facial recognition, but also government identification or verification by third-party providers.
Tama Leaver, professor of Internet studies at Curtin University, fears that users’ identification data will be held by the platforms in the future. From their perspective, that would be “absolutely terrible, as they have a pretty poor track record when it comes to keeping personal data safe.”
Australian Prime Minister Albanese tried to address data protection concerns shortly before the law was passed. He explained that there will be very strong and strict requirements for the protection of privacy and personal information. “For example, there is an obligation to delete the information provided after age has been verified.”
“License to say no”
Many parents in Australia are happy about the new law, like father-of-five Simon Kennedy, who campaigned for the ban. “The law now gives parents and others in society license to say no because it is a law,” he says. “This makes it easier for families to enforce the ban at home.” Social media harmed children’s development, caused depression, attention problems, and impaired self-esteem.
Teacher Ina Giglioli from Melbourne also shares this view: “There are currently a lot of suicides among young people, especially because of all the bullying online. That’s why I think it’s really important that there is this ban.”
Criticism from experts
Critics of the new law, on the other hand, worry that children will switch to less regulated online spaces. More than 140 experts from the fields of technology and child welfare criticized the age limit of 16 years in an open letter to Prime Minister Albanese as “too blunt an instrument to effectively address risks”.
Carly Dober, chair of the Australian Association of Psychologists, said the law was a stopgap solution to a much more complex problem. There will continue to be hate speech and misogynistic, racist and sexist content on the Internet. In addition, social platforms for children and young people are not only a danger and a pastime, but also an everyday means of communication and a source of news.
Messenger services and video platforms are permitted
There are influencers who convey honest body images, who motivate children to exercise outside or promote books. Michael Dezuanni from the Center of Excellence for the Digital Child at the Queensland University of Technology believes the ban is the wrong approach: “Social media is a big challenge, but the government should invest in ensuring that the operators are regulated, better and, above all, safer Creating opportunities for children.”
14-year-old Ben from Sydney finds stability on the Internet. He can exchange ideas with like-minded people online and feels less isolated. “As an autistic person, it is very difficult for me to socialize. Online it is much easier, much less stressful for me, and I also come into contact with many more people with the same interests than at school.”
Social media also offers queer children or children with a migrant background the opportunity to maintain contact with relatives or like-minded people more easily. The Australian government therefore does not ban children from all platforms. Messenger services such as WhatsApp should remain accessible to children. Likewise, online gaming platforms and video platforms such as YouTube, which children under 16 can also use for school purposes.
For the trainer of twelve-year-old Ruby, social networks have so far also had a very practical use. “All of our marketing is done via social media, Instagram, Facebook, now TikTok has also become a big thing. We post a lot and get new members as a result,” says trainer Journey Hipwood. She will no longer be able to reach Ruby and her friends there.
