Australia moves closer to banning social media for children under 16. Should Canada follow suit?

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Australia on Thursday approved a social media ban for children under age 16 after an emotional debate that gripped the nation, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech.

The law forces tech giants from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta to TikTok to stop minors logging in or face fines of up to AUS$50-million ($45.5-million). A trial of methods to enforce it will start in January with the ban to take effect in a year.

The law passed after a marathon last day of Australia’s parliamentary year. The ban faced opposition from privacy advocates and some child rights groups, but 77 per cent of the population wanted it, according to latest polls.

Opinion: The backlash against Australia’s ban on social media for children is misguided

Opposition lawmaker Dan Tehan told Parliament the government had agreed to accept amendments in the Senate that would bolster privacy protections. Platforms would not be allowed to compel users to provide government-issued identity documents including passports or driver’s licenses, nor could they demand digital identification through a government system.

“Will it be perfect? No. But is any law perfect? No, it’s not. But if it helps, even if it helps in just the smallest of ways, it will make a huge difference to people’s lives,” Tehan told Parliament.

What is the opposition to Australia’s social-media ban?

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Lawmakers who were not aligned with either the government or the opposition were most critical of the legislation during debate on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Criticisms include that the legislation had been rushed through Parliament without adequate scrutiny, would not work, would create privacy risks for users of all ages and would take away parents’ authority to decide what’s best for their children.

Critics also argue the ban would isolate children, deprive them of positive aspects of social media, drive children to the dark web, make children too young for social media reluctant to report harms encountered, and take away incentives for platforms to make online spaces safer.

Independent lawmaker Zoe Daniel said the legislation would “make zero difference to the harms that are inherent to social media.”

“The true object of this legislation is not to make social media safe by design, but to make parents and voters feel like the government is doing something about it,” Daniel told Parliament.

“There is a reason why the government parades this legislation as world-leading, that’s because no other country wants to do it,” she added.

The platforms had asked for the vote to be delayed until at least June next year when a government-commissioned evaluation of age assurance technologies made its report on how the ban could be enforced.

Melbourne resident Wayne Holdsworth, whose 17-year-old son Mac took his own life last year after falling victim to an online sextortion scam, described the bill as “absolutely essential for the safety of our children.”

“It’s not the only thing that we need to do to protect them because education is the key, but to provide some immediate support for our children and parents to be able to manage this, it’s a great step,” the 65-year-old online safety campaigner told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

“And in my opinion, it’s the greatest time in our country’s history,” he added, referring to the pending legal reform.

Will Canada ban social media for children?

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A country-wide ban on social media for children under the age of 16 has not been proposed in Canada, however there are growing concerns over the role social-media platforms play in cyberbullying, disrupted sleep patterns, brain development, and the inability of young people to focus.

A survey from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in 2021 found that 91 per cent of students in Grades 7 to 12 use social media daily, and about a third spend five hours or more daily on it. Researchers surveyed more than 2,000 Ontario students. Almost one-third reported being cyber-bullied at least once in the past year.

Nine school boards in Ontario launched lawsuits against the companies behind social-media platforms Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat and TikTok earlier this year, accusing them of designing unsafe and addictive products that harm the mental health of students and disrupt learning. Many provincial governments across Canada also announced major crackdowns on cellphone use in schools, which began to roll out during the 2024-2025 school year.

Do other countries have social-media bans for youth?

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In the United States, many state legislators have introduced bills aimed at protecting young people from social-media features designed to keep them endlessly scrolling or endangering their mental health and development.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill in March, 2024 that bans social-media accounts for children under 14 and requires parental permission for 14- and 15-year-olds. It is considered one of the country’s most restrictive social-media bans for minors. Meanwhile, legislation proposed in New York would restrict the way online platforms like Instagram and YouTube can collect and share children’s personal information and let parents keep their kids from being bombarded by “addictive” feeds from accounts they don’t follow.

France introduced a new law in July, 2023, that requires social media platforms operating in the country to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for those under the age of 15.

In the United Kingdom, technology secretary Peter Kyle told the BBC that a possible social media ban for children 16 and under was “on the table” following Australia’s move, but that has been the extent of the talks so far.

With additional reports from Caroline Alphonso and Reuters.