Beef-up looms for world-first teen social media ban
Australia’s world-first social media ban on teenagers will be strengthened to deal with potential legal challenges and improve online watchdog powers.
Nearly eight months after the federal government banned children under 16 from apps including Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook, Labor is planning further changes to hold tech giants accountable.
Government sources have confirmed that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese plans to announce a further strengthening of the ban within weeks.
“This is leading the world, we should be proud of that,” Mr Albanese told Nine’s Today Show on Friday.
“If there are legal challenges, we are looking for a way to further strengthen the laws,” he said.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has previously expressed concern about the “thin scaffolding” of the ban, describing it as a “very brute force approach”.
“I would say a regulator is only as good as the tools and resources available to him or her,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in early June.
The social media ban came into effect in December, aiming to keep children under the age of 16 off online platforms and restrict their access to high-impact content such as pornography.
This policy has been highly controversial among tech companies, due to two separate lawsuits filed by Reddit and a pair of teenagers supported by the Digital Freedom Project.
Although the government says millions of social media accounts have been deleted, recent research has shown that the ban can be circumvented relatively easily.
According to a study published by researchers at Newcastle University on Wednesday, 85 percent of children under 16 reported using social media after the ban came into force.
The report found there was little evidence that young people were using social media less than before the ban.
Mr Albanese acknowledged the ban would not prevent every child from accessing social media but said that was no reason to shy away.
“On a Friday night, somewhere in Australia there might be someone under the age of 18 who has the opportunity to drink alcohol in a bar. That doesn’t mean those rules and laws aren’t in place,” he said.
