The Off Button

Australia is planning to set a minimum age for children to use social media this year, as part of efforts to address concerns about users’ mental and physical health caused by excessive screen use, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled the initiative, saying his center-left administration before introducing the minimum age bill would first run an age verification trial for preventing access to pornographic websites and limiting younger users from using social media services.

Although the minimum age has not yet been specified, children between 13 and 16 years old can no longer access social media sites and platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

Albanese said many parents were complaining about their children’s usage of social media, adding that he wants to see children “off their devices and onto the footy fields and the swimming pools and the tennis courts.”

If implemented, the legislation would put Australia among the first countries in the world to impose age restrictions on social media.

More than 80 percent of Australia’s 26-million population are on social media, according to government and tech industry data.

Even so, there are still questions about the new policy’s implementation and effectiveness, including how usage would be restricted.

Digital rights advocates and analysts also wondered if restricting social media for children would prompt them to start using it in secret. Other concerns include excluding children “from meaningful, healthy participation in the digital world, potentially driving them to lower-quality online spaces.”

The proposal comes amid increasing pressure on tech companies to address social media use among teenagers.

Observers told the Financial Times that screen use could be one of the main campaign issues in next year’s parliamentary election.

The opposition Liberal Party has said it would introduce a ban on the use of social media for those under 16 within 100 days of being elected.