Australia will ban children from using social media from the age of 16, the prime minister announced on Tuesday, promising to get kids off their devices and “onto the football fields.”
Federal legislation to keep children off social media will be introduced this year, Premier Anthony Albanese has said, describing the impact of the sites on young people as a “scourge”.
The minimum age for children to log on to sites like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok has not been decided, but is expected to be between 14 and 16, Albanese said.
An age verification process will be carried out in the coming months before the legislation is introduced later this year, the centre-left leader said.
“I want to see kids put down their devices and move onto soccer fields, swimming pools and tennis courts,” Albanese said.
“We want them to have real experiences with real people because we know that social media is causing social harm,” she told the national broadcaster. Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
In a series of media interviews about the plan, Albanese said his own preference would be for a social media block for children under 16.
