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The Bill is aimed at restricting social media access for under 16 year olds over concerns of increasing mental health problems.
By: Monica O’Shea
Tech billionaire and X owner Elon Musk has challenged the Australian government’s underage social media ban amid concerns it will require age verification—and data collection—of children across the country.
Musk was responding to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s post on X touting the government’s plan to make 16 years the minimum age for social media use—aimed at curbing negative mental health impacts on children.
“Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians,” Musk posted in reply.
The X owner, who is also co-leading U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s government efficiency drive, has previously battled with the Australian government over demands to remove videos of a stabbing of an Assyrian Christian priest in Sydney.
The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 (pdf) was introduced into the Australian federal Parliament on Nov. 21.
Which Social Media Outlets Will it Cover?
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland confirmed the ban would cover the Chinese-owned TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, Instagram, and X among others.
“These services will be required to take reasonable steps to prevent persons under 16 years of age from creating or holding an account,” she told Parliament (pdf).
Rowland said the government would also have the power to exclude specific services such as messaging apps.
“In the first instance, this power will be used to carve out messaging services, online games, and services that significantly function to support the health and education of users,” the minister said.
The rule-making power is also “expected” to exclude YouTube, Facebook Messenger Kids, WhatsApp, ReachOut’s Peer Chat, Google Classroom, Kids Helpline MyCircle, and other educational and health support apps.
However, in order to apply this rule making power, the minister will need to seek advice from the eSafety commissioner.
Opposition to Support Ban
Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman confirmed the Coalition would be supporting the social media ban.
“The Leader of the Opposition committed the Coalition to a social media age limit of 16 back in June.
“It should have happened then, but we’re pleased it is finally happening now. This issue is urgent. As the Leader of the Opposition has said, we need to pass legislation by next week,” Coleman said.
Nationals Senator Bridge McKenzie said young boys in Grade Three and Four were already accessing violent pornography, while young girls were subject to cyber-bullying.
“We cannot act quickly enough because there is a tsunami of mental health issues occurring right now,” McKenzie told reporters in Canberra on Nov. 22.
“We want to halt that harm and deal with the issues raised by families,” she said.
How Hefty Are the Fines?
Body corporates who fail to prevent aged restricted users from having an account will be subject to a fine of up to $49.5 million (US$32.5 million). Meta, TikTok and X are all considered body corporates.
“A failure by the provider will be subject to 30,000 civil penalty units (currently equivalent to $9.9 million),” the government states (pdf).
“This increases to 150,000 penalty units (currently equivalent to $49.5 million) if the provider is a body corporate, due to the application of section 82 of the Regulatory Powers (Standard Provisions) Act 2014 (Regulatory Powers Act).”
The government explained the penalty amounts are intentionally large, reflecting the significance of the potential harms..
Will a Digital ID Be Required?
In an explanatory memorandum, the government suggested social media companies will implement “some form of age assurance” to identify account holders.
“The Bill does not dictate how platforms must comply with the minimum age obligation,” it states (pdf).
“However, it is expected that at a minimum, the obligation will require platforms to implement some form of age assurance, as a means of identifying whether a prospective or existing account holder is an Australian child under the age of 16 years.”
Liberal Senator Alex Antic had “real concerns” about how the ban would work in practice.
“The only reliable methods that are likely to work are those which require social media accounts to be linked to either a government certified ID, digital ID, or biometric data,” he told the Senate on Nov. 19.
“Now immediately we’ve gone from talking about a law protecting children under 16 from online harm, to proposals potentially requiring all Australians to submit personal identification as a condition of using social media.”
Tight Submission Deadline
The Senate referred the bill to the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee for a report by Nov. 26.
Submissions to the inquiry close on Nov. 22, just a day after the 2024 version of the Bill was introduced into the parliament.
“Due to the short timeframe of this inquiry, the Committee would appreciate submissions being limited to 1-2 pages,” the inquiry said.
One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson raised objections on X, saying “companies and individuals have only been given 24 hours to make a submission against this legislation.”
Greens Senator Hanson Young also raised concerns about the short time frame of the inquiry.
“The stitch-up is in, isn’t it? The two big parties are desperate for distraction and desperate to get something done in this space so quickly before anybody looks at the detail and before they’ve worked out they’ve got no answers to the real questions,” she said in the Senate (pdf).
