Australia is making it harder for kids under 16 to use social media, but teens are still getting around the rules
Australia will be stricter with discipline after studies showed that most teens kept using social media even though they were not allowed to.
Australia’s prime minister promised on Friday to strengthen the laws that support the country’s ban on teens using social media. This comes as the government gets ready to sue social media sites because there is more and more proof that the restrictions haven’t had much of an effect on teen use.
Countries that are considering taking similar steps because they are worried about how social media affects the mental and physical health of young people are closely watching the world’s first nationwide experiment, which began six months ago. This month, Britain announced that it wants to put more limits on things like gaming and live streaming sites.
The Australian government is preparing to implement laws that prohibit sites like Instagram and YouTube from granting accounts to individuals under the age of 16.
Several studies have indicated that kids can easily get around age verification systems and other safety measures put in place by tech companies, like picture verification systems. In fact, many young users were never asked to prove their age.
The prime minister told the ABC, “We want to make the laws as strong as possible and able to withstand any legal challenges.”
He said that one of his main goals would be to make sure that the e-safety commissioner, who is in charge of regulating the country’s internet, had enough power to successfully enforce the law.
Albanese didn’t give any more information about the steps being considered, and the regulator remained silent.
Anika Wells, the minister for communications, and the eSafety commissioner have said that they are planning to sue five of the biggest platforms. The platforms could face fines of up to A$49.5 million if they violate the ban.
Reddit is also contesting the law in Australia’s highest court, employing free speech arguments to seek its dismissal. The government has said it will fight the case.
When the ban began in December of last year, reports indicated that millions of accounts had shut down. But parents and experts say that teens’ use of social media hasn’t changed much.
A study that came out this week in the British Medical Journal looked at 408 teens and found that 85% of Australians between the ages of 12 and 15 were still using social media three months after the rules were put in place.
The study found that two thirds of underage users stayed online by saying they were older than 16 or by sending in selfies that sites would accept as proof they were older than 16.
The results were similar to those from March, when Australia’s eSafety commissioner said that one-third of Australians under 16 were still using social media.
Experts on how teens and young adults use social media said that there would always be a time of change while platforms, parents, and teens got used to the new rules.
Susan Sawyer, a professor of adolescent health at the University of Melbourne and an adviser to the eSafety commissioner, states that parents are now more prepared to monitor and restrict their children’s social media usage.
Sawyer is also a co-author of a study that came out this month and found that teens and young adults who use social media a lot have worse mental health.
“We do have proof that those social norms are beginning to change about what age is right for getting a phone,” Sawyer said.
As a pediatrician doing study in this area, I’m very aware of what’s going on. “People are talking to me about things that they weren’t talking about with me six months ago,” she said.
