Australia Proposes Social Media Age Limits to Protect Child Wellbeing

Australia’s government will collaborate with state and territory authorities to implement age limits for social media platforms, aiming to safeguard children’s mental well-being and shield them from inappropriate online content.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will introduce these new regulations prior to an election scheduled within the next nine months. He emphasizes that parents are grappling with the mental health repercussions of social media without adequate guidance.

“No generation has faced this challenge before,” Albanese will declare in a speech on Tuesday, according to excerpts provided by his office in advance. “Too often, there’s nothing social about social media—taking kids away from real friends and real experiences.”

While a specific age limit for social media access has not been established, the government is currently testing age verification technologies to restrict children’s exposure to inappropriate online material, including pornography. The government is also engaging in consultations to determine the practical implementation of the proposed ban.

Albanese revealed on Tuesday to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the government is contemplating an upper age limit of 14 to 16 years for the social media ban. 

“We’re looking at how you deliver it. This is a global issue that governments around the globe are trying to deal with,” he stated. 

A survey conducted in June by Essential Media indicated that a substantial majority of Australians were supportive of an age limit on social media, with only 15% expressing opposition.

Since assuming power in May 2022, the center-left Labor government has implemented several measures to address issues related to harmful online content. In the first half of 2024, it initiated legal action against social media platform X to compel it to remove footage depicting a violent terrorist attack in Sydney.