Children under the age of 16 will no longer be able to use social media if the opposition wins government at the next federal election.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton announced he would use age verification technologies to raise the minimum age for social media platforms from 13 to 16 within the first 100 days of a coalition government.
Sites like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok have fuelled cyberbullying, body image issues and mental health concerns and Mr Dutton said they were profiting at the expense of young Australians.
“Social media companies have let Australian families down because they don’t enforce age limits,” he told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.
“The age limit of 13 is clearly too young in the first place and, secondly, they don’t enforce it.
“This is one of those issues where we can try and help protect kids online, try and help families and parents have the tools they need.”
Any companies that do not comply will be penalised under the opposition’s proposal.
However, Mr Dutton has not detailed what tools the coalition would use to prevent children from accessing websites.
Many age gates can be easily bypassed through virtual private networks or by lying about a person’s age when creating an account.
The Labor government has invested $6.5 million to trial age assurance technologies that would reduce children’s exposure to inappropriate material.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously placed a strong emphasis on ensuring any measures put into place were effective, noting protocols could be circumvented.
But the opposition leader insists the technology is ready.
“The idea that the technology doesn’t exist or is not possible is just wrong,” he said.
Facebook, for example, restricts those who repeatedly enter different birthdays into the age screen and also compares birthdays across accounts for other apps owned by Meta.
Mr Dutton said this was an issue that should be approached on a bipartisan basis.
“We’d be really happy to work with the prime minister and the government to see the outcome and send a very clear message that both sides of parliament stand united against the scourge of social media,” he said.
The government has not yet announced an official date for the federal election, but Australians will have to go to the polls by May 2025.
Mr Dutton’s proposal comes after the eSafety Commissioner announced she would discontinue legal proceedings aimed at forcing X, formerly Twitter, to take down graphic videos of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel’s stabbing in Western Sydney.
The coalition has spent years calling for age verification to prevent children from accessing pornography sites and online betting platforms.
A 2020 house committee report noted age verification was not “a silver bullet” but could provide a barrier to prevent young people from accessing age-restricted content.
By Kat Wong in Canberra
