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00:00Now, he's called it a world-leading piece of legislation.
00:06Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the government is set to introduce a
00:10law that would ban all children under the age of 16 from using social media.
00:15The plans are set to be put forward to Parliament this year and could be enforced as early as
00:19next year.
00:21The bill involves an age verification process, which Albanese says will put the onus on the
00:26social media platforms to demonstrate they're taking reasonable steps to prevent access
00:30to their sites.
00:31Lizza Kamenow has the story.
00:35It's a historic legislation to protect young children from cyberbullying.
00:40If the proposed bill passes Parliament, platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok will no
00:46longer be accessible for children under 16 in Australia.
00:50Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the new law on Thursday, calling to protect
00:54children online.
00:56Social media is doing harm to our kids and I'm calling time on it.
01:01I've spoken to thousands of parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles.
01:06They like me are worried sick about the safety of our kids online.
01:10And I want Australian parents and families to know that the government has your back.
01:17The government says the ban will not have exemptions for children who have consent from
01:20their parents, nor those who already have accounts.
01:24Social media companies are expected to enforce the new rule themselves or face penalties.
01:30Users, however, will not be fined.
01:32Websites like YouTube will still be accessible for schoolwork.
01:36According to Australia's e-safety commissioner, one in five Australians has been cyberbullied.
01:42This includes receiving threats or abuse online, sharing embarrassing photos and spreading
01:47online gossip.
01:49According to the Australian Council for Educational Research, in 2022 the country was ranked second
01:54in the world for child cyberbullying.
01:56The decision comes after parents increasingly called for their children to be protected
02:01online.
02:02The government proposed a social media age limit earlier this year, which gained support
02:07among lawmakers.
02:08The proposed legislation, if passed in the parliament, will come into force after 12
02:13months.
02:14Let's get more on this and speak to Dr Sara Rose, Associate Professor of Child Psychology
02:19and Education at Staffordshire University.
02:22It's great to have you on the programme, Sara.
02:24Thank you so much for joining us.
02:25I want to first of all just get your initial reaction to this potential piece of legislation.
02:30As a professor of child psychology, do you back it?
02:34I think it's really interesting.
02:35I think it comes from a place of well-meaning.
02:38We want to protect children.
02:40But I'm not sure that this legislation is necessarily going to be the answer.
02:44I worry that it will just move the problem because when a child becomes 16, they don't
02:50suddenly become able to protect themselves and keep themselves safe online.
02:56And I think allowing children to use social media from age 13, as we currently have, enables
03:04parents to support their children.
03:07It enables providers to put limits on accounts based on the fact that the child is under
03:1316.
03:15So I think that it comes from a place of good meaning, but I'm not sure it's going to be
03:20very easy to enforce.
03:22And I'm not sure that it's going to really have the effect that we want.
03:26It's just going to move the problem.
03:28Well, you're kind of hinting at what the head of safety at META has been saying.
03:34We've had some reaction from them.
03:36Of course, META owns Instagram, as well as Facebook.
03:40He says that a deeper discussion needs to be had on how to implement the protections.
03:45Give us a sense of how you think the social media platforms will actually enforce this
03:48piece of legislation.
03:49How will they comply?
03:51I think it's going to be incredibly difficult for them to comply.
03:55We know already, based on research evidence, that parents will help their child under the
04:01age of 13 to set up a social media account.
04:05I think we've got a similar thing happening in the UK at the moment with the online safety
04:09bill.
04:10And the onus is being put on the platform providers to make it more stringent so that
04:17they can be more confident that the users who say they're over the age of 13, or potentially,
04:22in this case, Australia, over the age of 16, are genuinely over that age.
04:27But I think, yeah, it's definitely a problem, a challenge for the platform providers.
04:33I don't know what the solution for them is, really.
04:36And Sarah, this is, of course, part of a wider push globally.
04:39You mentioned in the UK that they're also trying to supervise young people's use of
04:45social media more.
04:46Why is there so much of a focus on it right now?
04:50I think it's something that adults are concerned about.
04:54We recognise that children are more vulnerable, so we want to protect children.
05:00It's challenging for parents because technology moves so quickly that it's hard for parents
05:06to keep up.
05:07So you mentioned Meta, Instagram, Facebook.
05:10They have instilled within the last couple of years a great number of parental controls.
05:16But the problem is that many parents don't know those parental controls are there.
05:21We need to try and look for opportunities to support parents and to support teenagers
05:28online.
05:29While teenagers are at school, there's an opportunity there to provide education through
05:34the curriculum.
05:35And that's one of the reasons why I worry that banning it for children under 16 will
05:40remove that opportunity for them to develop those online safety, those digital resilience
05:46skills, that ability to recognise, to manage online risk and to recover from online risk.
05:53So it sounds like there needs to be a wider education for both parents as well as children
05:58as well, using those social media sites.
06:01I want to speak about the children and get their perspective on this, what you think
06:06their reaction would be to this.
06:09Of course, young people, they want to keep up with their friends.
06:13When they're outside of school, they're using social media to chat to their friends and
06:16doing other things.
06:18What do you think they're going to be thinking?
06:20How do you think they're going to be reacting to this piece of legislation?
06:23Do you think they're going to comply?
06:26Really good question.
06:27Probably not, is my honest answer.
06:30And I think the reason for that is there's two ways to approach this problem of online
06:35risk.
06:36One way is to restrict, to put a law in place such as this that just says you're not allowed
06:42to do it.
06:44The other way is to think about mediating and scaffolding and supporting their use.
06:49So having those conversations, engaging in discussion, asking children what they would
06:54like.
06:55Now, from research that we've carried out here at the University of Staffordshire with
06:59children and their parents, they recognise the risks.
07:04They also recognise some of the benefits of social media, that opportunity to feel
07:09connected to others, to connect with other people who have interests such as their own.
07:15And it's about how we can provide opportunity for children to get those benefits while trying
07:22to minimise risks by, for example, using teen accounts on Instagram and supporting them
07:30to develop their digital resilience, that ability to recognise, manage and recover from
07:35risk.
07:36Yeah, social media is a bit of a curse and a blessing at the same time.
07:41Do you think if this piece of legislation is effective, do you see other countries following
07:46suit and putting in place a legislation like it?
07:51I think certainly other countries will be watching and looking to see what happens.
07:57To what extent it's going to be a very popular piece of legislation, I'm a little bit unsure.
08:04I think it's a simple solution and some parents will definitely find that attractive and feel
08:11that it will protect their children.
08:13But I think that other parents may resent that feeling of being told what they're allowed
08:19to do, what they're not allowed to do, what they're allowing their children to do and
08:22not allowing their children to do.
08:24I think it's a bit of a curse and a blessing to use social media for keeping in touch with
08:29their children sometimes as well.
08:31So it's thinking about how it's going to be received as well, I think, will be interesting
08:35to see.
08:36Yeah, we'll be looking and watching to find out how it all plays out.
08:40Sarah, thank you so much for giving us your thoughts.
08:42We really appreciate getting your analysis and getting you on the programme.
08:45That's Dr Sarah Rose, who is an Associate Professor of Child Psychology and Education
08:50at Staffordshire University.
08:52Thanks so much for your time.