The Australian government is preparing to introduce unprecedented legislation to ban children under 16 from accessing social media, as announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The measure could come into force as early as the end of next year and represents a response to growing alarms about the risks to the physical and mental health of young people. Australia is testing an innovative age verification system to prevent minors from creating accounts on social platforms. This control mechanism, the strictest in the world, includes the use of advanced methods such as biometrics and government identification, with the aim of strictly enforcing the age limit. Unlike other countries that have implemented policies to reduce social media use among minors, Australia sets a higher age limit and does not allow exceptions for parental consent or existing accounts.
“It’s time to say enough: social media is bad for our kids,” Albanese said in a press conference. The Prime Minister underlined how the excessive use of social networks represents a danger especially for mental health, with harmful repercussions both for girls, exposed to unrealistic ideals of beauty, and for boys, who may encounter misogynistic content. “Imagine being a 14-year-old boy exposed to these influences at such a delicate moment of growth,” Albanese said. “We are listening to families and acting accordingly.” The initiative, among the most severe ever attempted at an international level, aims to curb a rampant phenomenon. Other countries have already adopted measures to limit young people’s access to social media, but none have so far experimented with age verification systems as advanced as those proposed by Australia.
