Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced plans to ban children and teenagers under the age of 16 from accessing social media, but critics fear the move will lead to mandatory digital ID.
Mr Albanese confirmed on Thursday that Labor’s new legislation would have a cut-off age, and that those currently using social media platforms would not be exempt from the new laws, and that there would be no parental consent exemptions.
“This is world-leading legislation and we want to make sure we’ve got it right,” Mr Albanese said.
“We think there will be some, of course, exclusions and exemptions as well for this, to make sure that there aren’t unintended consequences, but we think this is absolutely the right thing.
๐จ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced that all teenagers under the age of 16 will be banned from social media access in Australia. pic.twitter.com/4cqjP8vNlH
โ Australians vs. The Agenda (@ausvstheagenda) November 6, 2024
“I’ve spoken to thousands of parents, grandparents, aunties, and uncles and like me they are worried sick about the safety of our kids online. I want parents to be able to say, ‘Sorry mate, it’s against the law for me to let you do this’.”
Communications minister Michelle Rowland, who is also the architect of Labor’s controversial misinformation bill, said that while she understood that social media use had benefits for young people, it also brought “harms”.
“I want to say to parents โฆ when it comes to protecting children from the harms caused by content or addictive behaviours as a result of social media, we are on your side,” she said.
Ms Rowland said that while there may be carve-outs for platforms deemed “low-risk” by Australia’s online censorship boss, the eSafety Commissioner, the major tech giants would all be covered by the legislation, and the onus would be on them to enforce the age limit, with no penalties for users.
Many Australians reacted negatively to the announcement, and accused Mr Albanese of overreach.
“Filthy tyrants, the lot of them,” wrote journalist Maria Zee.
“The parents make that decision if their child uses social media, not YOU,” wrote political commentator Anthony Scalise.
“This is them forcing digital ID,” said another X user.
“They donโt care about children being on social media, they just want to make you link your government issued ID with your social media account so they can easily identify and punish you for any anti-government sentiment.”
The federal government is developing a new digital ID system with a pilot set for next year, but the Trust Exchange framework has major privacy issues and falls short of global standards.
Header image: Anthony Albanese and Michelle Rowland at a Sikh temple last week, left. The PM making the social media ban announcement, right (X)
