Australia moves to ban children under 16 from social media

The tech giants would be held responsible for enforcing the age limit and face hefty fines if regulators notice young users slipping through the cracks, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said. Australia is among the vanguard of nations trying to clean up social media, and the proposed age limit would be among the world's strictest measures aimed at children.

The new laws would be presented to state and territory leaders this week, before being introduced to parliament in late November. Once passed, the tech platforms would be given a one-year grace period to figure out how to implement and enforce the ban.

Once celebrated as a means of staying connected and informed, social media platforms have been tarnished by cyberbullying, the spread of illegal content, and election-meddling claims.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said social media companies were repeatedly "falling short" in their obligations. [...] Rowland said companies like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Elon Musk's X would face financial penalties if they flouted the laws. While Rowland did not detail how big these would be, she suggested fines of US$600,000 (Aus $1 million) were well below the mark for companies boasting yearly revenues in the tens of billions of dollars.

Analysts have expressed doubt it would be technically feasible to enforce a strict age ban. "We already know that present age verification methods are unreliable, too easy to circumvent, or risk user privacy," University of Melbourne researcher Toby Murray said earlier this year.

Australia has in recent years ramped up efforts to regulate the tech giants, with mixed success. A "combating misinformation" bill was introduced earlier this year, outlining sweeping powers to fine tech companies for breaching online safety obligations.