Australia is one step closer to a social media ban for children under 14.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is set to announce on Tuesday his government will introduce legislation to enforce a minimum age for access to social media.
The legislation, to be introduced before the next election, will draw on a report by former High Court chief justice Robert French, released in South Australia on Sunday.
Mr Albanese said technology moved fast and it would be difficult for the government to protect every child from every threat - but something had to be done.
"Parents are worried sick about this," Mr Albanese said.
“The safety and mental and physical health of our young people is paramount.
“We are taking this action because enough is enough.”
The report by Mr French includes a draft bill with the legislative framework to ban children under 14 from social media and requires companies to gain parental consent for 14 and 15-year-olds to use their platforms.
While releasing the report on Sunday, SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said the bill would create a systemic social responsibility for platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to ensure they undertake all reasonable steps to prevent children from getting access.
“The evidence shows early access to addictive social media is causing our kids harm," Mr Malinauskas said.
“This is no different to cigarettes or alcohol. When a product or service hurts children, governments must act."
The announcement falls on the same day new research was released from the Australian National University showing regular social media use is negatively impacting the life satisfaction of high school students.
The study found non-binary students who regularly use social media reported the lowest levels of life satisfaction, but those who used Twitter/X reported higher levels of life satisfaction.
TikTok, Reddit and Twitch users who identified as male or female all had lower life satisfaction than those who did not use these platforms.
The research looked at the impact of regular use of certain social media platforms on life satisfaction levels for Year 10 and 11 students across the nation.
Participants were asked to rate their life satisfaction on a scale from zero to 10, from “completely dissatisfied” to “completely satisfied”.
Lead researcher Professor Ben Edwards said young people faced many challenges that could impact their life satisfaction but data showed the use of social media platforms often made it worse.
Prof Edwards said while the research did not look into why teens were using particular social media sites, the reason non-binary participants who used X might have higher life satisfaction was because they might be able to find a sense of community.
"Our findings, don't directly speak to (proposed age limits on social media) but if the regulations would go further, I think that there should be consultation with young people, particularly those from minority groups such as non-binary and other genders, because I think social media can be quite valuable as a support," he told AAP.
