OCT 22 — Like Malaysia, Australia is a federation. There is a federal government; there are state governments.

But unlike Malaysia, whose federal government has proposed a social media ban for children under 16, the Australian federal government has legislated that children under the age of 16 will not be able to sign up for social media accounts.

The legislation — the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, passed on November 29, 2024 — amends the Online Safety Act 2021 and requires platforms to take reasonable steps to enforce the ban, with fines of up to A$50 million (RM137 million) for non-compliance.

The legislation can be read here.

In a message to Australians after the legislation was passed, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said as follows:

“When it comes to the wellbeing of our young people, I don’t want Australia to wait around on the rest of the world – I want Australia to lead the world.

“What we have done is more than set a new minimum age — we are setting a new community standard.

“And we have sent a message to all those mums and dads who are worried about the impact that social media is having on their children’s wellbeing: we are on your side, we’ve got your back.

“We are backing parents and kids, and putting the onus on social media companies to make sure this works.

“I’ve seen people saying that law won’t fix everything and it won’t work in every situation.

“Of course, it’s difficult to pass a law relating to technology that works 100 per cent perfectly, 100 per cent of the time.

“But we can’t make perfection a barrier to action.

“We need to take action because social media can be a weapon for bullies, a platform for peer pressure and a tool for online predators.

“I want to recognise that some of the strongest advocates for action in this area are parents grieving the loss of a child.

“We owe it to those families — we owe it to every family — to do everything we can to help.

“We acted to drive a change in attitude, culture and behaviour. That’s the opportunity before us. Let’s seize it, and give kids back their childhood and parents their peace of mind.”

Several factors are said to have influenced the Albanese government’s decision.

In May 2024, a Joint Parliamentary Select Committee was launched to investigate the effect of social media on Australians. In the same month, media campaigns advocating raising the minimum social media age to 16 years were also launched.

The campaigns linked rising teenage mental health issues to social media, garnering support from parents, politicians, educators, clinicians and 127,000 petition signatories. 

Opposition to the ban included an open letter signed by 140 Australian and international academics, and mental health groups, arguing the ban was too simplistic and that systemic regulation was needed. 

Meanwhile, human rights advocates claimed the ban would infringe on young people's rights, including access to information and privacy.

The proposed ban nonetheless received bipartisan support. A poll in November 2024 suggested that 77 per cent of Australians supported it.

The Joint Parliamentary Select Committee, in turn, released a report with 12 recommendations, which did not include an age ban. Nevertheless, Albanese pressed for the ban.

The ban will take effect on December 10, 2025. It is a world-first. Ahead of the start date, a multimillion-dollar marketing campaign has been launched. It depicts the world-first ban on social media for teenagers as “for the good of our kids”.

Will Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim follow his Australian counterpart?

On October 17, Anwar informed the media that the Cabinet had proposed three immediate measures to address safety concerns in schools, including the worrying rise in bullying and crime cases.

He said the three measures would involve strengthening school security monitoring, raising the minimum age for social media use to 16, and improving educational content to emphasise moral and ethical values.

“In such matters, we cannot act hastily as they require careful study, but there are several steps that can be implemented immediately,” he was reported as saying.

The proposals have been met with criticisms — some describing the proposals as “superficial and knee-jerk” responses to recent violent crimes involving school students.

Are these criticisms themselves knee-jerk responses?

In Australia, children under 16 will be banned from social media starting December 10.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.