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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government is touting a new proposal to raise the minimum age at which minors can access social media platforms in Australia, saying it will be enforced through new technology.
“Social media can cause social harm. What we want to see, what I want to see and what parents want to see is to see them off their devices and on the football field, on the netball courts , in the pool or on the tennis court. But interacting with real people and having real experiences.
And while most experts acknowledge that platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok present a new frontier that can negatively impact the mental health of young Australians, some aren’t entirely convinced the government’s proposal will help .
Dr Rys Farthing, policy director at Reset.Tech Australia, says the risks of harm from using social media are real, but banning young people from accessing it won’t solve the underlying problems.
“I think in principle anything that protects children and young people is a good thing, and we should do it. But the real question here is: is this the best way to protect children and young people , and will it be effective?
This law would place Australia among the first countries in the world to impose an age limit on social networks.
Previous attempts, notably those by the European Union, have largely failed or proved difficult to implement.
Dr. Farthing says some might see it as a starting point, but she’s not convinced it will significantly protect children.
“There is a world in which we say ‘yes and?’ It’s like, yeah, and making the platforms safe I don’t even feel like that, I kind of feel like it’s more of an “Okay, sure.. . and ? I just don’t think so, given the difficulties of implementation and given that it will ultimately rely on parental consent, most likely, I don’t think it will make much difference, even in conjunction with a regulations, however, I would like someone to prove to me that I have. wrong.
These implementation challenges were highlighted by Australia’s e-safety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, who at a parliamentary inquiry in June said she supported age verification for these platforms , but believed that we do not yet know if the technology is effective.
“eSafety has long advocated age verification as part of a range of measures to protect children from online content and behavior they are not ready for. But as long as these comprehensive age verification systems age bans will not be in place, implementing age bans on social media will be difficult to measure, implement and enforce.
She also warned that restriction-based approaches could limit young people’s access to essential support networks.
The government’s proposed restrictions will not come into force until it can determine the effectiveness of age insurance technology.
The government’s $6.5 million technology trial is expected to be completed at the end of the 2024/2025 financial year, meaning no legislation is likely to be introduced until next year’s federal election, which should take place in May.
Mr Albanese has not yet specified the age at which young people could access social media, but says it would probably be between 14 and 16 years old.
Flinders University senior researcher and eating disorders clinician Dr Simon Wilksch says he is happy to hear the government’s proposal and would like to see the age limit increased from 13 to 16.
“I am a strong advocate for raising the minimum age to 16. I approach this issue as a clinical psychologist who treats children, adolescents and adults with eating disorders. Research tells us say that since the advent of social media, there has been a massive increase over the last 12 years. We are not trying to say that social media is the only cause, but it has certainly played a significant role and. I hear about it in the therapy room with parents tearing their hair out trying to manage.”
The data he references here comes from Deloitte’s 2012 and 2024 “Paying the Price” reports, which show an approximately 200% increase in the number of children aged 10 to 14 suffering from a mental health disorder. food in Australia.
It also points to a 2023 analysis of 50 studies from 17 countries that indicated that social media use led to “body image problems, eating disorders, and poor mental health via the mediating pathways of comparison social, internalization of the thin/fit ideal and self-objectification. “
The federal government’s proposal follows a similar proposal from South Australian Prime Minister Peter Malinauskas.
His state government has responded to a report by former Chief Justice of Australia Robert French into the potential harm social media can cause young Australians.
Their bill will aim to prohibit access to social networks for young people aged 14 and 15, without parental authorization, and to allow people aged 16 and over to access them freely.
Dr Wilksch criticized this approach, saying there should be a blanket ban up to 16 to reduce social pressures.
“My only concern about this is that I think it will put parents in a difficult position with 14 and 15 year olds. I think some parents will of course prefer that their child not be on social media. others may not be as informed and will allow their child to participate. So this will always create difficulties for schools and social situations with adolescents at school where some are enrolled and others. no I would prefer a generalized system throughout. the country and from what I know from the research and my experience helping people, 16 years makes the most sense to me.
However, much of this conversation misses the profound benefits reported by many young people with access to social media, especially those who are marginalized.
Reset Australia’s Dr Farthing says when you talk to young people, they paint a much more nuanced picture.
“When you talk to children and young people, they give you the same kind of mixed ideas that you find in the research. They’ll say, ‘Yeah, look, there are these aspects of social media that, dammit, I don’t don’t like them.’ . They don’t feel good, I don’t feel good with them But then they also tell us things about access to social media that are really useful to them, and that are very useful to them in all areas that. concerns us, whether it’s access to education, access to mental health support and counseling and those sorts of things And the approach of just taking young people out of it seems. a little brutal and not nuanced enough.
And, as European countries struggle to enforce age restrictions on social media, Dr Farthing welcomes the European Union’s Digital Services Act which puts pressure on companies to clean up their platforms for young people.
She says this type of nuanced legislation should be the way forward for Australia.
“So if you look at what Europe is doing, for example, with the Digital Services Act, they’ve implemented a whole series of reforms that require platforms to mitigate all kinds of risks for minors. So, risks that happen to minors due to harmful content, risks that happen to minors due to ads targeting them, risks that happen to minors due to inappropriate data collection and use, risks. that happen to minors because the platforms present them to “We see platforms changing and we see safety standards increasing in Europe, and European children have these safety protections, but we don’t have them in Australia.”
