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Governments are scrambling to ban young people from social media but no country has managed to implement an effective regulation system, an academic in law told AdNews.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese proposed to introduce legislation creating a minimum age for social media access in all states and territories before the next election.
In the United States, Florida's Online Protection of Minors Act prohibits social media platforms from allowing teens under 14 to create accounts.
Several other states have proposed similar measures to restrict social media access for minors but faced legal challenges.
The School of Law at Western Sydney University has put together a working party to examine any harms that could come out by this ban.
Sarah Hook, a senior lecturer at the university, said hasty laws are unlikely to be the solution.
“Rash legislation in response to moral panics very rarely ends up making good law,” she told AdNews.
“No country has yet brought in a workable system although many are trying.”
Hook said one of the chief concerns is privacy and data considerations.
She fears introducing fast-tracked legislation while the eSafety Commissioner is still trialing age verification tools means increased surveillance which can be used to track and subvert the ability to be anonymous online.
“In order to ban teenagers from social media, verification will require everyone to give more and more data, which seems like a way for the government to be able to push its Digital ID bill,” she said.
“This is something the UK recently back tracked from given the risks of identity theft, data leaks and vulnerability such solutions create.
“Apart from the impact on the population generally we also have concerns on what this means for young people’s ability to interact with society, access education and relevant news, and get help, especially in terms of LGBTQIA+ teens who may not have parent support.”
A whistleblower revealed Meta's internal reports about negative effects of social media on the mental health of teenage girls in 2021.
After a number of investigations, 41 US states and the District of Columbia sued the company for knowingly endangering children and the Surgeon General called for a warning label on social media.
In the US, Meta has tried to get in front of the regulations by introducing new teen accounts which will be set to private, mute certain words and have limited messaging options.
The tech giant has also deployed an age verification system that makes users upload a selfie and prove their age by submitting photo ID.
Hook said these measures can be bypassed and potentially compromise everyone's private details.
“The eSafety Commissioner has in the past recommended a ‘double-blind tokenised approach’, whereby information would be provided to a verifying third party that would certify the user’s age to social media platforms without revealing details about the child,” she said.
“Other options include verified parental consent, in which a parent verifies a child’s age on their behalf, or biometrics like facial scanning, which has the same privacy concerns and even more as it is probably being used to train AI.”
Hook said passing laws without proper consultation with the community it most affects risks further alienation and disenfranchisement among young people, who often already report feelings of being isolated from politics or devalued as genuine social contributors.
“They will show some sort of leadership in this space and compensate for children's inability to influence policy through votes by organising a national consultation,” she said.
“Consulting with children on this can lead to better legislation and also more compliance with the law if changes to the regulatory framework are made.”
However, Hook believes most underage teens will still be able to bypass any age verification systems.
“Children and teenagers will of course find ways to get around these bans and will continue to have a social life online,” she said.
“Those that miss out will be the ones that are already vulnerable – those without access to VPNs or have disengaged or disapproving parents or guardians.
“These vulnerable children are most likely going to be further ostracised as they are excluded from participation in culture and friend groups.”
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