Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Communications Minister Michelle Rowland announced details of their plan to force children and teenagers off social media on Thursday. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)

Labor backs 16 as the minimum age to use social media ahead of national cabinet meeting

(ABC) -- Children and teenagers under the age of 16 could soon be banned from using social media after Labor announced it would back the higher cut-off limit.
The government had previously committed to introducing the legislation that would get kids off social media by the end of the year, but earlier suggested it would not announce a specific cut-off age until after a trial of verification technology.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also confirmed on Thursday that the proposed legislation would not include grandfathering arrangements — meaning young people already on social media would not be exempt — nor would it allow for exemptions due to parental consent.
A virtual national cabinet meeting will be held on Friday to discuss the changes, where states and territory leaders will be asked to support the policy.
Labor’s decision to back the higher cut-off age comes after the Coalition announced it would support a minimum age of 16 earlier this year.
The changes would come into force a year after the legislation is passed by parliament, Mr Albanese told reporters, and there will be a review of the rules after they commence.
“This is world-leading legislation and we want to make sure we’ve got it right,” Mr Albanese said.
“We think there will be some, of course, exclusions and exemptions as well for this, to make sure that there aren’t unintended consequences — but we think this is absolutely the right thing.”
Some social media platforms already have policies barring anyone under the age of 13 from joining with their own account, but they can be notoriously difficult to enforce.
Social media platforms will bear the onus of enforcing the federal government’s age limit, not parents, the communications minister has confirmed.
The prime minister argued that access to social media was causing harm to young people’s mental health and he was “calling time on it”.
“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 said.
“I want parents to be able to say, ‘Sorry mate, it’s against the law for me to let you do this.’”
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland acknowledged that social media offers many benefits to young people, such as helping them stay connected, but that it also brought many harms.
“As a mother of two young daughters, I understand this personally,” she said.
“I want to say to parents … when it comes to protecting children from the harms caused by content or addictive behaviours as a result of social media, we are on your side.”
Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman described social media use by young people as “one of the defining issues of our era” and one that “shouldn’t be bipartisan in any way” as he welcomed the government’s announcement.
“We want to make sure that the legislation is strong and that there aren’t loopholes,” he said, standing in Parliament House with advocacy group 36 Months which has long lobbied for the minimum age to be set at 16.
“We don’t think that TikTok can be made safe for children, we do not think that Snapchat can ever be made safe for children, and we don’t think that Instagram can be safe for children.”
Under the proposed changes, social media companies will bear the onus of enforcing the age limit rather than parents and there would be no penalties for users.
As for what social media platforms would be included in the legislation, Ms Rowland said platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X, and YouTube would likely “fall within that definition”.
The government said the definition of what would constitute an age-restricted social media platform would be adapted from the existing definition in the Online Safety Act, but it would have flexibility and could be narrowed through regulations.
Earlier this week Ms Rowland said the legislation would include an “exemption framework” to encourage platforms to “develop age-appropriate safe and healthier versions of their service”.
For example, Ms Rowland said there could be the potential for carve-outs for platforms deemed “low risk” by the eSafety Commissioner.
Mr Coleman said the Coalition didn’t want to see a situation where major social media companies could seek exemption from the laws.
“We do not think that with a tweak here or a change there that you can make TikTok safe for kids — that applies to products like Instagram and Snapchat as well,” he said.

(Latest Update November 8, 2024)