Should Australia ban social media for U16s? 

13 September 2024 

With the recent announcement that the Australian government plans to set a new minimum age limit for social media use, #So.Me were invited on to CNN’s flagship business show, Quest Means Business, to discuss the potential new policy and what the downfalls of it might be.  

The problem with a policy like this is that it is not grounded in very strong, or consistent evidence. Social media is now part of the fabric of our society, and if we are to stop young people using it then we should ensure that this decision is justified by reliable and high quality evidence. At the moment, we simply don’t have that evidence.  

Beyond this, we know that: 

• Young people will likely find ways around restrictions, and they are very difficult to implement in practice. For example, we’ve seen challenges with age-verification technologies in the UK, and young people’s successful circumventing of restrictions in the US.  

• If we stop young people using social media legitimately, we also risk driving conversations about social media, and how young people use it safely, ‘underground’. This means young people will not have access to the support they need to navigate some its risks and challenges safely. 

• Social media now represents a particular social ‘skill-set’. It is so embedded in our lives that learning how to communicate, understand and empathise with people through social media platforms is an important part of our social development, and a weapon we need in our armoury for successful transitions through life. If we restrict young people’s opportunities to learn these skills in adolescence, what disadvantage does this put them at as they move through work and live? 

You can watch Jo’s interview on CNN below: