Australia is proposing to implement a law that will ban children under the age of 16 from using social media. Said to be a “world-leading” initiative, the announcement was made by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday who will be taking the proposal to a virtual national cabinet meeting today.
The Australian government plans to introduce the legislation to the nation’s parliament by the end of this year. Once the law is passed, the ban will take effect 12 months later.
Why is the ban implemented?
According to the Prime Minister, children’s excessive use of social media can negatively affect their physical and mental health. This includes girls being exposed to harmful depictions of body image as well as boys being targeted by misogynist content.
Albanese said during a media conference: “If you’re a 14-year-old kid getting this stuff, at a time where you’re going through life’s changes and maturing, it can be a really difficult time and what we’re doing is listening and then acting.”
“Social media is doing harm to our kids and I’m calling time on it”, mentioned the Prime Minister.
“I’ve spoken to thousands of parents, grandparents, aunties, and uncles and like me they are worried sick about the safety of our kids online,” he added.
If the ban becomes official, children under the age of 16 in Australia will be prohibited from using social media platforms, even with parental consent. Existing users will not be exempted either and their accounts will be shut down.
What platforms will be banned?
Thus far, the Australian government has yet to list the specific social media platforms that will be banned as a result of this proposed law. However, Albanese did mention that his government would utilise the same definition of social media used in Australia’s Social Media Services Online Safety Code.
Major social media platforms used by teenagers right now include the likes of Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, Reddit, X, Facebook, YouTube, as well as LinkedIn. All of these platforms include social elements that enable users to interact with one another.
Also, the ban is expected to be carried out by the social media platforms themselves. When users break the rules, they won’t be punished. The responsibility is instead placed on the platforms’ shoulders, and fines could be imposed against the companies that fail to enforce age restrictions.
Challenges in implementing the ban
For social platforms to enforce age restrictions towards their users, they will be forced to verify the users’ ages before allowing them to utilise their platforms. This will result in the companies having to collect user identification, which could trigger an entirely different set of privacy questions.
In this day and age, social media has also become a crucial part of people’s lives, more so with teenagers. Social media is being used in not just schools, but can also be helpful for teenagers when looking for part-time jobs, or engaging with potential employers and education institutions.
Teenagers are also depending on social media platforms as their news source. A report by the Pew Research Centre shows that almost 40% of people under the age of 30 in the US get their news from TikTok.
Australia is not the first to limit children’s access to social media, but should Malaysia follow suit?
Last year, France passed a law that requires children under the age of 15 to get parental consent in order to use social media. In the U.S., Texas also passed a law, preventing children under 18 from using social media without parental consent. However, these laws are nowhere near as stringent as the one Australia’s government is proposing.
With all that said, should Malaysia follow suit as well by limiting social media access for the children of our nation? At the time of writing, Malaysia does not have such a law just yet.
However, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has announced that social media and internet messaging services with a minimum of 8 million registered users in Malaysia are required to apply for a social media licence, which will take effect starting 1st January next year (2025). Applicable platforms that fail to obtain the licence after the enforcement period would be operating illegally and appropriate legal action will be taken under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
