Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced his government will implement nationwide legislation this year that introduces age limits for social media usage, citing concerns over mental and physical health.
“I want to see kids off their devices and onto the footy fields and the swimming pools and the tennis courts. We want them to have real experiences with real people, because we know that social media is causing social harm,” he said on Tuesday.
He said young people experience online bullying, and stressed that social media platforms have a social responsibility.
The government has not specified the minimum age for access to social media, but Albanese said it would likely be between 14 and 16.
A poll conducted in August by ABC News, an Australian public broadcaster, found around 60 percent of 1,533 respondents supported restricting social media to people under 17 years of age.