Australia will ban kids from the usage of social media with a minimal age restriction as excessive as sixteen, the high minister said Tuesday, vowing to get youngsters off their devices and “onto the footy fields”.
Federal legislation to hold children off social media can be brought this yr, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, describing the effect of the web sites on young humans as a “scourge”.
The minimal age for kids to log into websites like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok has not been decided however is expected to be between 14 and 16 years, Albanese said.
An age verification trial might be performed in the coming months before law is brought with the aid of the end of this year, the centre-left chief stated. “I need to peer youngsters off their devices and onto the footy fields and the swimming swimming pools and the tennis courts,” Albanese stated.
“We need them to have actual stories with actual human beings because we understand that social media is causing social harm,” he told countrywide broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In a sequence of media interviews on the plan, Albanese said his personal choice might be for a social media block on youngsters younger than sixteen.