Australia bans under-16s from social media

The Australian Parliament approved a law on Thursday banning access to social networks for children under 16, one of the strictest measures in the world for platforms such as X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

The text, which has been given the green light by both houses of Parliament and supported by the main parties, should soon require these platforms to take “reasonable measures” to prevent children and young adolescents from having an account.

Failure to comply with this obligation will result in fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (30.7 million euros).

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, regretted that it did not take into account what the industry “is already doing to ensure age-appropriate experiences,” while ensuring that the law would be respected.

The text, denounced as “rushed,” “vague” and “problematic” by several platforms, obtained the green light from the Australian Senate on Thursday, by 34 votes for and 19 against, after that of the Australian lower house the day before, and its entry into force is hardly in doubt.

The center-left Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, who is preparing for elections early this year, has championed this text, and called on parents of children to unite behind this law.

Ahead of the vote, he accused social media of being “a platform for peer pressure, a source of anxiety, a conduit for scammers and, worst of all, a tool for online predators” and urged young Australians to “put down their phones and get on the football pitch, the cricket pitch, the tennis court, the volleyball court or the swimming pool.”

Anthony Albanese told reporters on Friday that the ban would provide “better prospects and less harm to young Australians,” while the platforms would have “a social responsibility.”

The government is not expecting a perfect measure, “but we know it's the best thing to do,” he added.

The law will not make “social networks safer for young people,” Australian Green Party MP Sarah Hanson-Young said during the Senate debate, saying she was “devastated” to see young people “addicted to these dangerous algorithms.”

– “I will find a way” –

Two women on a bench in Sydney, November 7, 2024 © AFP – DAVID GRAY

Young Australians are already saying they plan to get around the ban. “I'll find a way, and my friends will do the same,” Angus Lydom, 12, told AFP, hoping to stay on social media. “It would be weird not to have it and not be able to talk to my friends when I'm at home,” he said.

The same goes for Elsie Arkinstall, 11, who says social media has a place, even for children, to watch baking or art tutorials, for example. “You can't learn all this from books,” she said.

On paper, the Australian ban is one of the strictest in the world.

But the text provides almost no details on how it will be implemented, so much so that some experts have expressed doubts about the technical feasibility of the ban and wonder whether it is not a text with symbolic significance, but unenforceable.

It will take at least a year for the law to come into force, while Australian regulators work out the details of its application.

Meta said it was determined that “the rules are applied consistently to all social media apps used by teenagers.”

A schoolboy looks at his phone in Melbourne on November 27, 2024 © AFP – William WEST

Some platforms like WhatsApp and YouTube, which teenagers need to do their homework, should also be exempted.

Amendments have been made to the text to prevent users from having to produce their ID identity cards to prove their age.

A Snapchat spokesperson told AFP that the network would work to “help develop an approach that balances privacy, security and enforceability.”

Programs that teach children to think “critically” about what they see online should be adopted, according to social media expert Susan Grantham.

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