Australia to ban social media for children under 16 - but could the UK do the same?

The Australian government has announced it wants to ban children under 16 from using social media, and hold platforms responsible for ensuring compliance.

The legislation will be introduced in Parliament during its final two weeks in session this year, which begin on November 18.

Under the plans, there would be no exemptions for children who already have accounts or for those with parental consent to us social media.

“Social media is doing harm to our kids and I’m calling time on it,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Here, ITV News explains what the law could look like and whether the UK has similar plans in place.

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When would the legislation be introduced and who would be responsible for enforcing it?

The age limit would take effect 12 months after the law is passed, Albanese confirmed.

The platforms including X, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook would need to use that year to work out how to exclude Australian children younger than 16 from accessing their sites.

“I’ve spoken to thousands of parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles. They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online,” Albanese said.

The proposal comes as governments around the world are wrestling with how to supervise young people's use of technologies like smartphones and social media.

Social media platforms would be penalised for breaching the age limit, but under-age children and their parents would not.

“The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access. The onus won’t be on parents or young people,” Albanese said.

What have social media platforms said about the proposal?

Antigone Davis, head of safety at Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said the company would respect any age limitations the government wants to introduce.

“However, what’s missing is a deeper discussion on how we implement protections, otherwise we risk making ourselves feel better, like we have taken action, but teens and parents will not find themselves in a better place,” Davis said in a statement.

She added that stronger tools in app stores and operating systems for parents to control what apps their children can use would be a “simple and effective solution.”

Is there backlash to the legislation?

More than 140 Australian and international academics with expertise in fields related to technology and child welfare signed an open letter to Albanese last month opposing a social media age limit as “too blunt an instrument to address risks effectively.”

Jackie Hallan, a director at the youth mental health service ReachOut, opposed the ban and said 73% of young people across Australia accessing mental health support did so through social media.

She added: “We’re uncomfortable with the ban.

"We think young people are likely to circumvent a ban and our concern is that it really drives the behavior underground and then if things go wrong, young people are less likely to get support from parents and carers because they’re worried about getting in trouble."

Will there be exemptions?

Albanese said there would be exclusions and exemptions in circumstances such as a need to continue access to educational services.

But parental consent would not entitle a child under 16 to access social media.

Children who already have accounts would also not be exempt from the new law.

Does the UK have similar plans? While there is currently no plan for an all-out ban being considered in the UK, a Bill was introduced to UK Parliament last month which could see restrictions placed on teenagers' access to social media and mobile phones.

The Safer Phones Bill is a private members' bill being introduced to Parliament by former teacher and now Labour MP Josh MacAlister.

Under the proposed law social media companies could be made to exclude under-16s from their algorithms to make content less addictive.

The Bill also calls for a legal requirement to be introduced to ban mobile phones in all schools in England.

The previous government issued guidance intended to stop the use of mobile phones during the school day, but it's not statutory at the moment.

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