'To Keep Kids Safe': Australia Sets 16 as Minimum Age for Social Media Access

Canberra: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has praised the passing of a bill that bans social media use for children under the age of 16 which has aimed at enhancing child safety.

"And it will now officially become law.  We're doing everything we can to keep our kids safe.", said Albanese in a social media post on X.

Australia on Thursday passed into law a social media ban for children aged under 16 after an emotive debate that gripped the nation, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech.

The law forces tech giants from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta to TikTok to stop minors logging in or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million). A trial of methods to enforce it will start in January with the ban to take effect in a year.

The Social Media Minimum Age bill sets Australia up as a test case for a growing number of governments which have legislated or said they plan to legislate an age restriction on social media amid concern about its mental health impact on young people.

Countries including France and some US states have passed laws to restrict access for minors without a parent's permission, but the Australian ban is absolute. A full under-14s ban in Florida is being challenged in court on free speech grounds.  

Getting the law passed after a marathon last day of Australia's parliamentary year marks a political win for centre-left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who goes to an election in 2025 amid sagging opinion polls. The ban faced opposition from privacy advocates and some child rights groups, but 77 per cent of the population wanted it, according to latest polls.

Against the backdrop of a parliamentary inquiry through 2024 which heard evidence from parents of children who had self-harmed due to social media bullying, domestic media backed the ban led by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, the country's biggest newspaper publisher, with a campaign called "Let Them Be Kids".

With inputs from AP