With about two months to go until Australia’s teen social media ban officially begins, the federal government isn’t waiting to spruik its “world-first” policy, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to use an address at the United Nations this week to promote it.
Some of the details of how the ban (also called a social media minimum age) will be enforced are becoming clear. But the next question is: what will be its impact?
Over the ban’s 18-month journey — from a media-backed campaign to law — the government’s rationale for it has shifted while always encompassing a wide range of purported benefits.
Albanese has often repeated the line that “social media is doing social harm”. However, the nature of these harms and their consequences has varied from person to person, even from interview to interview, within the government.
Given the self-described “landmark” nature of the ban and the global interest, there will be a lot of attention on whether the policy will fulfil its promise and improve the lives of Australian children and parents.
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Crikey has pulled together the government’s promised benefits and the problems that will be fixed by the teen social media ban:
Reduce exposure to harmful content: “What we want to make sure though is that we restrict the harmful content” — Anthony Albanese
End social media addiction caused by the platform’s design: “The [ban] is intended to address harmful impacts such as addictive behaviours caused by persuasive or manipulative design features.” — Online Safety (Age-Restricted Social Media Platforms) Rules 2025 explanatory statement
Curb excessive amounts of time spent on social media: “Children and young people may also consistently exceed the duration of time they intend to use social media, engage in deceptive behaviours to secure access, and experience negative impacts” — Online Safety (Age-Restricted Social Media Platforms) Rules 2025 explanatory statement
Reduce cyber-bullying: “The [ban] will reduce harms (such as cyber bullying).” — the Department of Communication’s Social Media Age Limit impact analysis equivalent supplementary analysis
Reduce peer pressure (specifically over social media use): “A minimum age for social media would reduce the FOMO experienced by young people by changing the behaviours of the entire cohort, rather than only a few — teens won’t feel pressured to be on social media if their friends aren’t online either.” — the Department of Communication’s Social Media Age Limit impact analysis equivalent supplementary analysis
Tackling “social isolation … poor mental and physical health (including unhealthy social comparisons and negative body image), and low-life satisfaction” caused by social media — Online Safety (Age-Restricted Social Media Platforms) Rules 2025 explanatory statement
Improve sleep for teens: “Social media use has also been explicitly linked to poor sleep” — Online Safety (Age-Restricted Social Media Platforms) Rules 2025 explanatory statement
Fighting child sexual exploitation and abuse: “[Social media is used as] a tool for online predators.” — Anthony Albanese
Give children more time to develop skills before going on social media: “It’s breathing space to build digital literacy, critical reasoning, impulse control and greater resilience.” — eSafety Commissioner’s office
Increase time spent outside: “I want young Australians to grow up playing outside with their friends, on the footy field, in the swimming pool, trying every sport that grabs their interest, discovering music and art, being confident and happy in the classroom and at home.” — Anthony Albanese
Stop children from being targeted with their data: “[The ban will help] by significantly restricting the ability for companies to harvest and monetise children’s personal information and sensitive data” — Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 explanatory memorandum
Reduce the amount of fake news seen by teens: “The bill reduces the risk of children being exposed to false and misleading information that is prolific on social media.” — Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 explanatory memorandum
Avoid being exposed to data breaches: “Interferences with privacy, such as through a data breach, can cause serious interferences with the right to health through financial loss, identity theft or fraud, emotional distress, reputational damage, physical harm, coercion and/or discrimination.” — Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 explanatory memorandum
Stop children from being doxxed or stalked: “This data can enable a person to be identified or located, allowing for bad actors to cause or contribute to the intentional infliction of physical or mental injury to an individual in Australia” — Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 explanatory memorandum
Stopping scams: “[Social media is] a vehicle for scammers” — Anthony Albanese
Set a new social norm for an appropriate age to be on social media: “Setting a minimum age removes ambiguity about when the ‘right’ time is for their children to engage on social media and establishes a new social norm.” — Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 explanatory memorandum
Reducing pressure on parents: “We know parents are worried about social media and we’re stepping up to help.” — Anthony Albanese
Setting clear expectations for tech platforms about how they’re supposed to restrict children from their platforms: “eSafety’s guidance makes clear that platforms must comply with the law, and also provide transparent and accessible information to their users about their age assurance systems.” — Communications Minister Anika Wells
The Albanese government’s pledged benefits for the teen social media ban range from the discrete to the unquantifiable, but everything’s on the table for an unprecedented policy like this. So, too, are the unintended consequences of teens hoping to circumvent the ban.
The policy is already slated for two reviews: a statutory review and an academic review overseen by the eSafety commissioner, expected to be formally announced later this week.
