MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s government is working to beef up a law that prohibits children younger than 16 from using social media, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced to Parliament.
Observers noted on Friday that the government’s push came in response to growing evidence that the ban — which took effect on December 10 of last year — has not been working. Australia was the first nation in the world to pass such legislation, though several other countries have since moved in the same direction.
Speaking to Parliament on Thursday, Albanese said his government was actively looking at ways to make the ban more effective.
“We’re working on that as a priority because this is something that other generations didn’t have to deal with, which is why it’s complex,” Albanese said.
On Friday, Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the government is asking whether the current laws are as strong as they can be, and whether eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant — Australia’s top online safety official — has all the tools she needs to do her job.
The announcement follows Britain’s declaration last week of plans to prohibit children under 16 from accessing a range of social media platforms, citing concerns about harmful content and too much screen time. Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia have also introduced legislation or announced age-based limits on children’s social media use. France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand, and South Korea are among the nations studying or developing their own approaches.
Back in April, Inman Grant said she was weighing potential court action against Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, claiming those platforms were not doing enough to keep young Australian children off their services.
Those platforms, along with X, Kick, Reddit, Threads, and Twitch, could face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars — roughly $34 million U.S. — if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove accounts belonging to underage users.
Lisa Given, an information sciences expert at Melbourne’s RMIT University, said the government’s proposed changes are a direct response to evidence that the current law is falling short. She pointed to data released by eSafety in March showing that seven out of ten underage children still had active accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok after the ban went into effect in December.
Given also cited a study published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal, which found that 85% of a group of Australian 12-to-17-year-olds were still using the restricted platforms.
“I do think it’s failing,” Given said. “Many kids in the media have reported that they also think that this is really a failed exercise.”
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Inman Grant said in an interview from early June: “I don’t have potent powers.” She was also quoted as saying, “What I would say is a regulator is only as good as the tools and the resources that they’re given.”
The Associated Press reached out to Inman Grant’s office on Friday to verify the accuracy of those reported comments, but did not receive an immediate response.
Given said Inman Grant faces a difficult challenge in enforcing a law that the platforms themselves are pushing back against.
“Either the eSafety Commissioner needs more powers or we’ve got to have some other approach to enforcement,” Given said.
Given also expects the courts will ultimately need to weigh in on what counts as the “reasonable steps” platforms are legally required to take to keep children off their services.
Albanese said his government will also move forward with what he called digital duty of care legislation, which would hold social media platforms responsible for foreseeable harms caused by their content and algorithms — part of a broader effort to enforce the social media ban.
