Australia moves step closer to world-first social media ban for under-16s

Australia’s lower house of parliament has voted overwhelmingly to pass a landmark bill banning the use of social media by children under 16.
The bill passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday targets social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X with fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($32m) if they fail to comply with the ban.
After passing with 103 votes in favour to 13 votes against, the bill will move to the Senate, where it is also expected to pass with the support of Australia’s major parties.
Opposition lawmaker Dan Tehan said the government had agreed to amendments made in the Senate that would bolster privacy protections for social media users, including a prohibition on platforms compelling users to submit government-issued identification.
Should the ban become law, social media companies will have a year to work out how to comply with the order.
Tech companies had called on the Australian government to delay the vote until at least June of next year, when the results of a study into age-verification technology are due to be released.
“In the absence of such results, neither industry nor Australians will understand the nature or scale of age assurance required by the bill, nor the impact of such measures on Australians,” Facebook and Instagram owner Meta said in a statement this week.
“In its present form, the bill is inconsistent and ineffective.”
The legislation has moved quickly through Australia’s parliament, where legislators say the ban is needed to prevent the harmful effects of social media on children.
While the ban has been widely supported in parliament, some opposition lawmakers have argued the legislation fails to address many of the underlying problems with social media while restricting Australians’ rights.
“The true object of this legislation is not to make social media safe by design, but to make parents and voters feel like the government is doing something about it,” Independent lawmaker Zoe Daniel told parliament.
The ban has also been criticised by Amnesty International and Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner, Lorraine Finlay, who said it would deprive vulnerable children of a social safety net.
Australia’s Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind also questioned the logic of the ban in a LinkedIn post this week.
“We should not be too quick to accept that social media is so bad that it needs to be banned for the most vulnerable. Changes, even small and incremental, could positively shape that environment. Strong privacy law and application of that law in the online domain is part of that puzzle,” she wrote.