Millions of Children Could Lose Social Media Access Under New Law, Greens Warn

Senators also criticised the government for not releasing key documents related to the policy.

Social media apps are displayed on a phone screen in a photo illustration on Dec. 1, 2024. Roni Bintang/Getty Images

Greens Senator David Shoebridge is concerned that Australia’s upcoming social media ban for children under 16 could harm the mental health of around 2.4 million young people.

Parliament passed the law in late November 2024, with enforcement to begin on Dec. 10.

Platforms including X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and Snapchat could face fines of up to $50 million (US$33 million) if they do not take reasonable steps to prevent children under 16 from having a social media account.

Senator Shoebridge pointed out that a large number of children will lose access to social media at the start of the Christmas holidays.

“The estimates are that around 2.4 million young people will be kicked off social media accounts in 43 days just as school holidays start,” he said on Oct. 28.

“I’m deeply concerned about the impacts on the ban, including on young people’s mental health and privacy.”

Shoebridge said the ban on five platforms would likely do nothing except drive young people to unregulated online spaces or non-logged-in user states.

Regulator Confident Platforms Will Be Ready

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant recently expressed optimism that the ban would be ready by the Dec. 10 deadline.

She said companies fall into three groups: those who agree and will comply, those who disagree but will comply, and those who may not comply at all.

“This is not a secret to any of the companies. We’ve been talking to them for 11 months. November [2024] was when the legislation was enabled. They know what they have needed to do,” she said.

At a Senate inquiry into internet search codes and the social media ban on Oct. 28, TikTok public policy lead Ella Woods-Joyce warned blunt age bans could backfire.

“A ban will push younger people into darker corners of the internet where rules, safety, tools, and protections don’t exist,” she said.

Snapchat Warns of Privacy Risks

Snapchat’s vice-president of global public policy, Jennifer Stout, raised concerns about privacy risks tied to age assurance technology and suggested it should be implemented at the device level.

“Age assurance has a number of privacy risks. It naturally requires the collection of incredibly personal information,” she told the Senate committee.

“This is why Snapchat and many others have been supportive of device-level age assurance. That means requiring the devices, Apple, Google, or app stores to collect age at the point of sale so they can share the age with the thousands of apps that user chooses to verify their age with.

“We do not have the luxury of that now, as Google and Apple have not set that up.”

Concerns Over Redacted Government Documents

Separately, senators criticised the government for heavily redacting documents related to the ban.

Independent Senator Fatima Payman said a Senate order for documents was ignored for 12 days, and when they arrived, they were “massacred by black texta.”

“The minister suggested that such extensive redaction was necessary to protect the government’s ability to obtain relevant commercial information,” she said in parliament on Oct. 29 (pdf).

Payman said that she will be taking further action and continuing to hold the government to account.

Liberal Senator Paul Scarr echoed concerns, saying the Senate seeks documents for the benefit of Australians.

“We’re doing it for the Australian people. We’re doing it to obtain information they deserve to know,” he said.

In response, Labor Senator Don Farrell said 27 documents had been handed over.

He stated that the communications minister blocked the release of three documents on the grounds of public interest.

“Redactions have been applied where the document is out of the scope of the order, or where public interest immunity has been claimed,” Farrell said.