On Monday afternoon, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that legislation forcing social media companies to enforce a minimum age limit would be brought before the Senate before the end of 2024. Right now, it’s unclear what the exact age limit will be — Albanese says somewhere between 14 and 16.
Albanese explained that it will be a coordinated effort at a national level, rather than a state level. “We want to make sure there’s a national response rather than eight different states’ responses,” he said.
He went on: “Parents are worried sick about this… We know they’re working without a map. No generation has faced this challenge before. The safety and mental and physical health of our young people is paramount. Parents want their kids off their phones and on the footy field. So do I.”
What Is The Current Age Restriction On Social Media?
As it currently stands, there’s no government-enforced minimum age limit for social media users, though most platforms do state that users must be 13 years old or above to sign up for an account. This is reportedly based on the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in the United States, which governs the online collection of personal information from children under 13.
This age limit also applies in Australia, but there has been a bigger push this year for the Australian Government to increase the age limit and enforce it through fines for social media companies that fail to comply. In Australia, the loudest organisation to push for the age change comes courtesy of ‘36 Months’.
Co-founded by radio host Michael ‘Wippa’ Wipfli and the founder of film production company FINCH, Rob Galluzzo, 36 Months refers to the three years between the current social media age limit and the proposed age limit of 16.
‘We’re raising an anxious generation,” reads the 36 Months mission statement. “Excessive social media use is rewiring young brains within a critical window of psychological development, causing an epidemic of mental illness.”
The platform aims to create a supportive space for teenagers to foster resilience, mindfulness and a strong sense of identity. It’s also spearheading a petition to “raise the age for social media citizenship”, which currently has more than 116K signatures.
How Could The Australian Government Enforce A Minimum Age Limit?
The answer to this question isn’t a simple one, as Albanese even admitted that the technology to enforce a minimum age limit is still in development. Specifically, the federal government is currently trialling methods for age verification. The most recent phase applies to preventing children from accessing porn sites and teenagers aged 13 to 16 from accessing social media sites.
“What we’re looking at is how you deliver it,” Albanese told ABC News Breakfast in an interview. “We know that it’s not simple and it’s not easy. Otherwise, governments would have responded before.”
Who Supports The Minimum Age Increase?
The age increase has bipartisan support at a national level. Earlier this year, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced that the Coalition would pursue a social media ban for children under 16 years of age.
In May, Albanese backed the campaign, though it’s worth noting that The Greens have opposed a blanket ban, saying that it would harm education.
The reception from experts in the field has been mixed, and this is largely down to privacy and data collection. Any age verification system would require a level of data collection from social media companies, and as such, questions have been raised about whether we want companies to have such detailed information about Australian citizens.
This story is evolving, and we’ll update you as it does.
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