Report – Government of South Australia, 9 September 2024

Report of the legal examination into banning children’s access to social media

This Report to the Government of South Australia follows a legal examination to determine whether the State of South Australia could legislate a ban on access to social media services by children who have not attained the age of 14 and to restrict access to social media services by children between the ages of 14 and 16 by requiring parental consent to their access. The Report also considers a legislative model for achieving that end.

The examiner considered:

  • How South Australia can achieve the objective of social media prohibition for children within Australia’s constitutional framework.
  • The existing legislative and regulatory landscape in South Australia including effectiveness of current legislative and regulatory levers for limiting access to social media for children.
  • Opportunities for legislative or regulatory reform in South Australia to prevent access to social media accounts for children under 14 and require parental consent for children aged 14 and 15.
  • How actions taken in South Australia to limit social media access for children could be effectively enforced.
  • How existing technology to limit access to social media such as ‘age assurance’ mechanisms could be utilised to complement legislative and/or regulatory change.

The report concludes whatever regime is established by the South Australian Government, it will not be perfect. Effecting compliance across the industry will be challenging. The legislation would apply to existing as well as prospective users of social media services.

There will undoubtedly be workarounds by knowledgeable child users. However, the perfect should not be the enemy of the good.

One non-legal beneficial effect of the law may be to arm parents with the proposition that it is the law not them that restricts access to social media for children in South Australia.

Read the full report here: https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2024-09/apo-nid328256.pdf