A child protection organisation cited by the prime minister in an opinion piece arguing for his government’s policy to ban younger teens from social media says the ban is unlikely to make any difference, and could create more harm for kids.
After his announcement the government would introduce legislation to ban younger teens and children from social media by the end of the year, Anthony Albanese wrote in a Wednesday opinion piece in the Herald Sun that the response had been led by “many mums and dads … pushing for change”, and a “strong campaign” from the paper.
Albanese said parents were seeking help on the issue of social media, and that the government was partnering with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, a charity committed to protecting children from violence, on digital literacy programs in schools.
The foundation’s chief executive, Sarah Davies, told Guardian Australia that while it was not opposed to raising the age limits on social media, it did not believe it would make any difference.
“The other, more concerning, thing is it might actually create more harm,” Davies said.
“It’s not that raising the age is a bad thing; it’s just it’s completely irrelevant to the drivers and causes of the risks and the harms that children and young people face online.”
One major concern about raising the age of access without stronger regulation of the platforms, Davies said, was that children could end up accessing accounts set up for adults, and then seeing adult content meant for adults – and might be reluctant to seek help if exposed to harm online.
“If we raise the age and younger children are still accessing it, it might drive that help-seeking behaviour underground,” she said.
“A massive concern for us is that actually children and young people don’t think this is a good idea … There are cohorts of children and young people who find the use of tech and social media incredibly empowering and positive, and basically we will be denying them that ability.”
Davies said there needed to be serious reform on the regulation of tech companies – not just social media – including banning the selling of data of young people, restricting recommender algorithms and forcing tech companies to give users the highest privacy settings by default.
She said there was a risk the political class could deem the job done with the ban. “It’ll be, ‘Right, job done, let’s talk about something else’ – and it’s not freaking job done. Nowhere close.”
While polling suggests a majority of Australians are in favour of raising the minimum age teens can access social media, a number of experts and mental health groups have expressed concern since Monday’s annoucement.
The Australian Association of Psychologists said the government’s proposed social media age ban laws were “a distraction from the real issues at hand” – making social media and online spaces safer.
The chief executive of Headspace, Jason Trethowan, said banning access to social media was “a blunt instrument that may have unintended consequences” if not weighed against the benefits social media offers young people.
The prime minister’s office was approached for comment.
