Australia to legislate “world-first” social media ban for children under 16

() – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday that the government would legislate to ban the use of social media for children under 16, a policy the government says is a world first.

“Social media is harming our children and I want to put an end to it,” Albanese said at a news conference.

The legislation will be introduced in parliament this year and will come into force 12 months after being ratified by lawmakers, he added.

There will be no exemptions for users who have parental consent.

“The burden will be on social media platforms to demonstrate that they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access,” Albanese said. “The responsibility will not fall on parents or young people.”

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said affected platforms would include Meta Platforms’ Instagram and Facebook, as well as ByteDance’s TikTok and Elon Musk’s X. Alphabet’s YouTube would likely also fall within the scope of the legislation, he added.

The four affected companies were not immediately available for comment.

Several countries have already promised to limit children’s use of social media through legislation, although Australia’s policy is one of the strictest.

Last year, France proposed banning social media for children under 15, although users were able to avoid the ban with parental consent.

The United States has for decades required tech companies to seek parental consent to access the data of children under 13, which has led most social media platforms to ban those under that age from accessing their services.