How would a social media ban actually work?

Planned new Australian laws would block children from social media to guard them from the mental and social harm linked to apps such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Discord. With almost a quarter of children aged eight to 10 using social media at least once a week, and half of 13-year-olds doing the same, the government is responding to parental discomfort about the technology that has spread from apps like Facebook to games like Roblox. The Albanese government plans to ban children from accessing social media, but has not said how its proposal would work.

Credit: Aresna Villanueva But similar plans have faltered overseas and there is still scant detail about how the proposal would work. Here’s what we do know. Why has Labor announced a social media ban? After indicating his intentions in September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday that his government would move to ban children under 16 from using social media apps, pointing to growing evidence that teen mental health and social isolation are worsening.



Previously, the state governments of South Australia, Victoria and NSW have expressed support for such an idea. “The fact is that young women see images of particular body shapes that have a real impact in the real world. And young men through some of the misogynistic material that they get sent to them, not because they asked for it,” Albanese said at a press briefing.

“If you’re a 14-year-old kid getting this stuff at a time where you’re going through life’s changes and maturing, it can be a really difficult time.”.