"The bullying that can occur online, the access to material which causes social harm, and parents are wanting a response,” the Australian prime minister said.
ADVERTISEMENTAustralia plans to introduce a minimum age for children to access social media this year, but it has yet to announce how ages will be verified.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday the government would soon trial age verification technology with a view to banning children from opening social media accounts. The line would be drawn between the ages of 14 and 16.
Several countries and US states are attempting to legislate to spare children harm from social media, including bullying.
The Australian move comes as parents increasingly call for their children to be protected online. The opposition party has promised a social media ban for children under 16 if it wins elections due by May next year.
“We’ve committed to introducing legislation before the end of this year for age verification to make sure that we get young people away from this social harm,” Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“This is a scourge. We know that there is mental health consequences for what many of the young people have had to deal with. The bullying that can occur online, the access to material which causes social harm, and parents are wanting a response,” Albanese added.
If passed, the law would make Australia among the first countries in the world to impose a social media age restriction.
As children and teenagers access technology at a younger age, there have been concerns regarding the websites and platforms they can access. Many social media platforms, such as Meta, require children to be at least 13 to create an account.
In Europe, data regulations currently require that a teenager must be 16 to have their personal data processed unless their parent or guardian provides their consent but this age can be lowered to 13 by EU states.
Lisa Given, an information technology expert at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, said the government’s plan would prevent children from accessing useful content as well.
“This is actually a very problematic move,” Given said.
“This is a very blunt instrument that’s going to potentially exclude children from some very, very helpful supports on social media".
South Australia state has recently proposed a law that would fine social media companies that did not exclude children under the age of 14 from their platforms.
