Australia’s social media ban came into effect on 10 December, just in time for under-16s to find something to do this summer other than scrolling on their phones.
Although there are no legal consequences for children who manage to circumvent the ban, the legislation expressly prohibits children from creating or retaining accounts on sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, Snapchat, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Reddit, Twitch, Kick, and even YouTube.
The new laws mean age verification – which can come in the form of providing age, government ID, credit card verification, or providing a selfie – are now required from users.
Reactions to the ban from children, parents, and concerned groups are pouring in. There is no agreement on the merits of the ban.
Blue Mountains teenager Anna Smith said the ban was already impacting her social circles, and particularly those who rely on social media as a job or to use as a portfolio.
A performer herself, Smith said the banned platforms had become necessary for up-and-coming actors and artists such as herself.
“A lot of the auditions I’ve done, you go to the (social media) page and then they get you to upload something onto YouTube and then you have to send that into them,” she told The Catholic Weekly.
“A lot of the older girls, like around 14 to 15 years old, they do all that themselves, they don’t need their parents to do it for them.”
ACU expert Professor Kathy Mills told The Catholic Weekly the delay until age 16 gives parents a “false sense of security” about their children’s online safety.
“It’s not actually getting to the heart of online harms, and it’s also not getting to the problems that people cite with digital use,” she said.
“We have things like screen addiction, young people playing online games and so on for long periods of time, maybe not exercising or doing other things with their face-to-face friends, and there are other things that young people can access.”
Mills said that making children wait until they turn 16 to open an account was “creating a cultural shift” away from phones and social media but stronger protections, particularly for data and privacy, were needed.
“Just to point to some of the things that need to be done, in the EU, they have a data protection privacy law that’s been put over all those countries, and so social media companies have to comply with those strict privacy and data usage rules,”
“Australia does not have anything like that, so it would be really important for Australia to have some similar types of rules to ensure that the way social media companies use our private data is used not just for marketing.”
Mills said the protections would make accessing social media harder for children and may deter less frequent users, including those who are over 16 but who are still asked to verify their age.
“We are seeing so many problems with the age verification system,” she said.
Smith said children were already finding ways to get around the ban and to get back on social media.
“My little sister was talking about a friend who had used her mum’s or cousin’s ID and got right back in,” she said.
“The sites don’t know what’s going on; they don’t know whose ID is being entered in.”
Smith said some platforms were harmful to users but the politicians did not understand “how important those are to a lot of young people.”
“They should have asked the parents; there should have been more interaction with the general public asking, ‘what do you think is helpful?’” she said.
“Politicians should have been “genuinely collecting opinions rather than just going and cutting it off straight away.”
Sydney Catholic Schools Manager of Wellbeing and Learning Clare McMahon said the ban will take some adjusting to for children.
“We’re looking forward to reducing pressure on young people to create a healthier digital environment,” she said.
“We know that it might be a bit of a difficult time to get used to at the start, but we’re hoping that it leads to those greater conversations and awareness.”
