Both houses of Federal Parliament have voted to approve legislation to protect Australian children from social media, following strong and sustained advocacy from the Malinauskas Labor Government.

The Albanese Labor Government secured passage of the world-leading legislation to enforce a minimum age of 16 years for social media.

The bill is modelled on framework legislation prepared by former Chief Justice of the High Court the Honourable Robert French AC, at the request of South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas.

The State Government has been determined to progress a ban on social media for children amid mounting concern and recognition from experts, clinicians, and educators of the negative impacts of unregulated social media use on children’s mental health, wellbeing and development.

The State Government’s strong preference has been for nationally consistent legislation, which has now passed the Senate.

The federal law will require social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent under 16s from having accounts, placing the onus of responsibility on these corporations rather than parents or children.

Significant financial penalties of up to $49.5 million will apply for systemic breaches by social media giants.

The Bill and the associated rules will ensure young Australians have continued access to messaging and online gaming, as well as access to services that are health and education-related, like Headspace, Kids Helpline, Google Classroom, and YouTube.

Last month, the State Government co-hosted a Social Media Summit with the NSW Government.

SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said, “This legislation is world-leading. It is in the interest of our children.”

“We want kids off phones, engaging with each other in a healthy way, and not being subjected to the addictive algorithms that we know major social media platforms deploy for their commercial interests at the expense of children’s mental health.”

“We can never ever allow commercial interests to usurp the interests of children reaching their potential.”

“This legislation sends a clear message to social media companies that they have a duty to our young people.”

“I applaud the Prime Minister for taking up a position of leadership on this issue, and acknowledge the bipartisanship shown to make sure this important reform passes”

Expert alert: Social media ban legislation passed RMIT University

World-first legislation banning social media for Australian teens under 16 has passed.

Professor Lisa Given is available for interviews. She has spoken extensively on the topic and her article, Australia’s social media ban for kids under 16 just became law. How it will work remains a mystery, has just been published on The Conversation.

Lisa Given is a Professor of Information Sciences at RMIT University. She is Director of RMIT’s Centre for Human-AI Information Environments and the Social Change Enabling Impact Platform.