Social media age restrictions can work, but need an education strategy

Growing evidence of harms to young people from social media has ignited public concern. In response, Australia passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, a groundbreaking piece of legislation that bans children under 16 from using certain social media platforms, including Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X. This law makes Australia the first country to implement such a stringent age restriction on social media access. A similar private member's bill has been presented to the New Zealand Parliament. Social media age restrictions are controversial, and raise many issues around privacy, human rights, free speech, and enforcement challenges. However, these can be addressed if regulators are prepared to accept second-best solutions on age verification, with a view to improving performance over time. The history of smoking regulation suggests that age verification needs to be complemented by a long-term commitment to parental and other education, based mainly on advertising campaigns. This could be supported by a levy on social media advertising revenues.