SYDNEY, Australia — Australia plans to set a minimum age limit for children to use social media citing concerns about mental and physical health, drawing a backlash from digital rights advocates who warn the measure could drive dangerous online activity underground.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his center-left government would run an age verification trial before introducing age minimum laws for social media this year.
The law would put Australia among the first countries in the world to impose an age restriction on social media.
Representatives of Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, which has a self-imposed minimum age of 13, YouTube owner Alphabet and TikTok were not immediately available for comment.
Australia has one of the world’s most online populations with more than four-fifths of its 26 million people on social media, according to government and tech industry figures.
Persons:
Anthony Albanese, Albanese, “, ” Albanese, ”, Daniel Angus, Jordy Kaufman
Organizations:
Australian Broadcasting Corp, European Union, Meta, Facebook, Queensland University of Technology Digital Media Research, Swinburne University, University of Sydney
Locations:
SYDNEY, Australia