The extent to which social media is infiltrating pre-teen lives is being laid bare by the number of underage accounts social media platforms are shutting down. TikTok says last year it suspended one million Australian accounts which it suspected belonged to children under the age of 13. Experts and policymakers will meet this week to explore the impacts of social media, as federal government grapples with mandating age limits and not all teenagers are opposed to the ban.
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00:00So, what have you found?
00:02Oh, I mean, our Zen kit,
00:04it's about half what the celebrities are using it in.
00:07These students are learning to make sense of what they see online...
00:11Because she's getting paid to do that.
00:13..in a class that delves into real-life issues.
00:16Has AI created the image?
00:18Is that image actually real?
00:20Or is it, you know, the deep fakes that you hear about now as well?
00:23They're the kinds of questions policymakers say children
00:26and young people shouldn't have to contemplate.
00:28Social media companies haven't fulfilled their responsibility
00:31to ensure that young people aren't getting access to harmful content.
00:35Now, if social media companies aren't going to do their job,
00:37then that invites a response from government.
00:40A response proposing to ban children 13 and under
00:44from using social media.
00:4614- and 15-year-olds would need parental consent.
00:49The SA Premier revealed his plans in September,
00:52draft laws his Commonwealth counterparts have taken on board.
00:56We will be introducing legislation this year
00:59to mandate a minimum age for access to social media.
01:02I was expecting everyone to go, like,
01:04no, like, that's such a bad idea, why should they have to do that?
01:08But most of us were like, no,
01:10that's actually going to protect a lot of people.
01:13I wasn't really living my childhood.
01:1613-year-old Eloise Carell went on a one-month detox from TikTok
01:20after spending three hours a day on the platform.
01:23I felt, like, more connected to, like, everything in a weird way.
01:28And I just...my overall...
01:32..like, overall health and happiness was a lot higher.
01:35The federal government wants state and territory buy-in
01:38on a ban for children aged up to 16,
01:41but it's also left the door open to a softer approach,
01:44such as parental permissions.
01:46But enforcing age restrictions online isn't easy.
01:50The government is trialling age-assurance technology,
01:53hoping to put that responsibility back on the social media companies.
01:58Currently, social media platforms do have minimum ages
02:02in their terms of service.
02:03The issue is that it's not enforced.
02:05I don't think it's very good policy.
02:07I think it's taking a kind of blunt instrument
02:10and applying it to a very complex situation.
02:14Professor Michael Desuani says age-assurance technology
02:18could breach children's privacy.
02:20We should actually be requiring the digital platforms to do more
02:24to create a better social media environment for children.
02:27That's not just about having parental controls and so on.
02:31It's about actually producing content and experiences
02:34that are appropriate for children.
02:37TikTok and Snapchat point out they already banned children under 13,
02:41with TikTok saying it removed
02:43one million suspected underage Australian accounts last year.
02:47X says the site is not the platform of choice for minors.
02:51Teen content creativity.
02:53While the politicians weigh up their decision,
02:55these teens are making some big decisions of their own.
02:59I kind of made a rule for myself.
03:01Whenever I'm at my grandparents' house, I put, like,
03:03I don't touch my phone,
03:04because obviously one day they are going to be gone
03:06and I'm not going to regret being on my phone.