Opinion: Australia's Under-16 Social Media Ban Is an Intrusion on

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Parents, not the government, should be the primary decision-makers regarding what children should be doing, viewing, or interacting with. But clearly, Australia doesn’t see it that way, as they have passed a law effectively banning children under 16 from social media access.

Australians reacted on Friday with a mixture of anger and relief to a social media ban on children under 16 that the government says is world-leading, but which tech giants like TikTok argue could push young people to “darker corners of the internet”.

Australia approved the social media ban for children late on Thursday after an emotive debate that has gripped the nation, setting a benchmark for jurisdictions around the world with one of the toughest regulations targeting Big Tech.

The law forces tech giants from Instagram and Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O) to TikTok to stop minors from logging in or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million). A trial of enforcement methods will start in January, with the ban to take effect in a year.

“Platforms now have a social responsibility to ensure the safety of our kids is a priority for them,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday

Here’s the thing: It won’t work. This law is much akin to trying to bail out a sinking boat with a sieve. Kids will find a way around this ban, and the primary effect this law will have will be to create an entirely new subculture of hackers (or whatever they call people like that these days) that will be finding ways around these bans. Australia has initiated a software arms race that will only escalate — and may well draw more kids into social media.

But that’s not the real problem with laws like this. First, Australia isn’t the first place to try such a thing.

Countries including France and some U.S. states have passed laws to restrict access for minors without a parent’s permission, but the Australian ban is absolute. A full under-14s ban in Florida is being challenged in court on free speech grounds.

Albanese’s Labor party won crucial support from the opposition conservatives for the bill that was fast-tracked through the country’s parliament as part of 31 bills pushed through in a chaotic final day of parliament for the year.

That’s as may be, but there is a serious overstep by the Australian government here.

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Parents, not the government — not any government — should be making these decisions.

Parents know their own kids better than any government. But more to the point, parents, not the government, are responsible for their kids. That includes making decisions as to which television shows they watch, which movies they are allowed to view, and what social media they are allowed to access. It’s not the proper role of any level of government to interfere.

Will some people fail to properly monitor their children? Yes. That has always been the case. But a law like this is an unfair and unreasonable intrusion on the parental rights of the millions of parents who are responsible, who show good judgment, and who have the best interests and happiness of their own children at heart.

This law is an unfair and unreasonable intrusion into the rights of Australian parents.