Anthony Albanese backs raising social media minimum age to 16

Australian children under 16 will not be able to access social media even if they have parental permission, under Labor’s age limit plan.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will take the proposal to a virtual meeting of national cabinet* on Friday, and said he already spoken to several premiers and was confident they understood the need for a uniform approach across Australia.

Under Labor’s proposal, social media platforms would need to show they are taking reasonable steps to ensure underage people are not using their services, with no enforcement* obligations or penalties for parents or other individuals.

The new age limit would come into effect after a 12-month implementation period, and Mr Albanese said underage users who already have social media accounts would not keep them.

Mr Albanese said the government would introduce privacy protections for information collected for age assurance purposes and confirmed Labor would “not allow exemptions* if users have parental permission”.

Describing the issue as a “national challenge that requires national leadership,” Mr Albanese said his government was “stepping up to deliver”.

“Social media is doing social harm to our young people, and I’m calling time on it,” he said.

Mr Albanese said he knew an age limit alone was “not the solution” and there was “more to do”.

“But it will make a difference,” he said. “We need to do everything we can to keep our kids safe, and wherever I go in Australia, I know one of the biggest issues worrying mums and dads is the impact social media is having on their children’s wellbeing.”

In developing the policy, Mr Albanese said he had spoken to thousands of parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles who, like him, were “worried sick about the safety of our kids online”.

Mr Albanese paid tribute to News Corp Australia, publisher of Kids News, for its Let Them Be Kids campaign highlighting the community concern around children’s access to social media and the negative impacts on their mental and physical health.

The PM said Australia’s eSafety Commissioner would issue regulatory* guidance setting out what “reasonable steps” can be taken by platforms to be assured of the age of its users.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the government has consulted widely with experts, parents, youth organisations, advocacy* groups, academics and state and territory leaders about the proposal.

“What our approach does is hopes to achieve a balance between minimising those harms that are caused by young people accessing social media, while still enabling connection and inclusion,” she said.

“The normative* value that this will provide to parents is immense.”

Anticipating complaints from the social media platforms, Ms Rowland said the one-year lead time for the age ban was to ensure the government could get the “legislative* intent right” and also that implementation was “capable of being done in a very practical way”.

“I would also point out that there is also a very strong case of evidence here for the fact that social media companies have been put on notice that they need to ensure that the content that they are providing, but also their practices, need to be made safer,” she said.

Ms Rowland said platforms “know their users better than anyone” and she was confident they would have capacity to comply with age assurance requirements in the future.

“It’s very important to have privacy protections in place, it is a complex area, but it is one that we are determined to get right,” she said.

“It’s one that we are determined to implement, because we know what’s at stake,”

Ms Rowland said Labor would introduce the age limit legislation before parliament finishes for the year at the end of November.

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GLOSSARY

• national cabinet: the forum for the prime minister, state premiers and territory chief ministers to meet and work together
• enforcement: the process of making people obey laws and rules
• exemptions: special permissions not to have to do something others have to do
• regulatory: relating to regulations, the set of rules or laws controlling an activity
• advocacy: speaking up for yourself and others, public support for an idea, plan, or way of doing something
• normative: relating to a norm, or the process of normalising a standard of behaviour
• legislative: relating to laws

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QUICK QUIZ

1. What will the minimum age be for social media users under Labor’s plan?
2. What obligations will parents have under the proposal?
3. Will parental permission be able to override the minimum age legislation?
4. What is News Corp’s Let Them Be Kids campaign about?
5. When will Labor introduce the age limit legislation?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Will it work?

Do you think the government’s age limit plan will help protect kids from the harms caused by social media? Imagine that you have been asked by the Prime Minister to write an evaluation of the plan. Your evaluation should include what you think is good and /or bad about the plan. Make it as convincing as you can. Include suggestions to improve the plan if you think of any.

Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Civics and Citizenship, Personal and Social Capability

2. Extension
Prime Minister Albanese says that “there is more to do” to keep kids safe. What more do you think should be done? Write a list of specific suggestions for the government that you think will help.

Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social Capability

VCOP ACTIVITY
Read this!
A headline on an article – or a title on your text – should capture the attention of the audience, telling them to read this now. So choosing the perfect words for a headline or title is very important.

Create three new headlines for the events that took place in this article. Remember, what you write and how you write it will set the pace for the whole text, so make sure it matches.

Read out your headlines to a partner and discuss what the article will be about based on the headline you created. Discuss the tone and mood you set in just your few, short words. Does it do the article justice? Will it capture the audience’s attention the way you hoped? Would you want to read more?

Consider how a headline or title is similar to using short, sharp sentences throughout your text. They can be just as important as complex ones. Go through the last text you wrote and highlight any short, sharp sentences