‘When I am getting my smartphone,’ asked Jermy in a terse tone. Her father was in affix.
Should he give a smartphone to her 13-year-old daughter. What is she going to do? Demand for smart phone by children is growing and many parents face this dilemma.
Raising children has become a challenge in a culture that is no longer supportive of and in some respects hostile to Christianity. Interest in children’s use of technology and its effect on their well-being and development has captured our collective interest perhaps more than any other topic on technology and the family.
In this connection examining the Australian initiative is relevant for all of us.
UNDERSTANDING THE AUSTRALIAN BAN
In a global first, on 10th December 2025 -International Human Rights Day- Australia declared enforcement of a legislation banning access to social media platforms for children under 16 with greater responsibilities on the tec companies. The ban is the first of its kind and is being watched closely by other countries.
Meanwhile, this ban has started a fierce debate among different stake holders. Parents and schools on one side and social activists and a section of psychologists on other side. The teenagers are furious. This reminds us of earlier moves to restrict teen access to tobacco, alcohol. gambling and sexual consent.
Several factors influenced the Australian government’s decision. One of the decisive pushes for this landmark legislation stem from Jonathan Haidt’s book, “The Anxious Generation” that blames smartphones for a spike in teenage mental health issues. This book from a New Yorker psychologist registered a sale of 2 million copies in one year persuaded an influential Australian politician to take action.
In May, 2024, Australia’s federal government launched a Joint Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the effect of social media on Australians. In the same month, an Australian media company News Corp and parallel social movements launched media campaigns advocating raising the minimum social media age to 16 years. The campaigns linked rising teenage mental health issues to social media, garnering support from parents, politicians, educators, clinicians, and 127,000 petition signatories.
On November 29, 2024, the Australian federal government amended the Online Safety Act to ban children younger than 16 years from having social media accounts. This was to become enforceable by December 2025.
SALIANT FEATURES
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated the ban aims to reduce social media harms for children and “give kids back their childhood and parents their peace of mind.” The government further claimed that it will reduce the negative impact of social media’s “design features that encourage young people to spend more time on screens, while also surfing up contents that can harm their health and wellbeing”.
As per this law under-16s in Australia are now banned from using major social media services including TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit and Threads. Under age children cannot set up new accounts and existing profiles are being deactivated. The legislation stipulates that social media platforms would take reasonable steps to enforce the ban, with fines of up to AUD$ 50 million (US $ 32 million) for non-compliance.
Under the new legislation, users under age of 16 who manage to access a social media platform will not be subject to penalties, nor will their parents.
According to this law the onus would be on the individual tech companies and platform to ‘demonstrate they are taking “reasonable steps” to keep kids off their platforms and should use multiple age assurance technologies. These should include government IDs, face or voice recognition or so called “age inference”, which analyses online behaviour and interactions to estimate a person’s age. Platforms cannot rely on users’ self -certifying parents vouching for their children.
The eSafety Commissioner will be responsible for enforcement and there needs to be enhanced penalties to ensure compliance.
WHY BAN?
The internet can be a dangerous place for people of all ages, and many have welcomed the ban for under 16’s. The government says the policy is its response to rising concerns about cyberbullying, sexual exploitation, self-harm content and mental health risks.
Parents and civil society groups that are in favour of the ban site cyberbullying, exposure inappropriate and harmful content, danger from online predators, fake mews impact as main concern. Cyberbullying can have severe emotional and psychological impacts on children, leading to issues such as depression, anxiety, and even suicidal tendencies. Another significant threat is the exposure to inappropriate or harmful content. With billions of videos and websites available online, it’s not uncommon for children to stumble upon explicit or distressing material, even when browsing innocently. Sometimes under peer pressure, accidental searches or curiosity they stumble upon explicit material on the internet that they should not see at this impressionable age. Growing juvenile crimes are also linked to the social media use by the teenagers.
Many parents feel that their children suffer ‘silently’ the negative consequences of exposure to the darker sides of social media, such as cyberbullying, declining mental health, and the glorification of eating disorders.
The experts also point out to an element of knowingly providing minors with what is called in the industry “addictive feeds” without parental consent.
Many times, social media platforms send messages and notifications to minors during school hours and late at night. The parent knows the harm social media addiction can inflict on their children — isolation from human contact, stress and anxiety, and endless hours wasted late in the night. Some kinds of rules are needed to protect children and teenagers from purposely designed features that feed these destructive habits.
Several forums of parents and caregivers have been lobbying for such legislation for a long-time siting social media’s adverse effect on mental health, social behaviour and violent tendencies among teenagers.
Additionally, links between usage of social media and a range of harms were found, such as adverse mental health outcomes, substance abuse and risky sexual behaviours. These findings represent the failure of a digital ecosystem built on profit rather than protection.
CRITIQUE
While supporters hope other countries to follow Australia’ s lead, critics say that social media ban exhibits the hallmark of a moral panic, including the lack of a clearly defined threat, a disproportionate response and the sidelining of young people’s voices. If the policy’s aim is genuinely to protect teen agers, the first step should have been to involve them meaningfully in the debate about the ban.
The critics fear that new legislative bans will be ineffective, would create unintended consequences and infringe on children’s rights. They see this move as a part of a worldwide cultural shift that now sees smartphones as akin to driving and alcohol- for older teens and adults only.
In fact, there are differing opinions about how best to address social media use for adolescents. Some believe it should be a parental issue, not a government one. Parents can play a powerful role. Some favour pursuing tech companies to design better solutions around child protection online rather than blanket ban.
The Tech firms argue that it would be difficult to implement, easy to circumvent and time consuming for users, and would pose risks to their privacy. Companies also suggested it might drive children into dark corners of the internet and deprive young people of social contact. You Tube’s parent company, Google is reportedly considering a legal challenge over its inclusion. Another tec company Meta warned that ban would leave teens with “inconsistent protections across the many apps they use.” Reddit has also expressed concern.
These dilemmas are not unique in case of the Australian legislation alone but reflect worldwide anxieties about children and use of social media.
WIDE SPREAD SUPPORT
Despite reservations and criticism, the Australian legislation is termed as “a game changer.” Malaysia announced it will follow suit. The European Parliament voted in favour of a nonbinding resolution for a minimum age for social media. Its president Ursula von der Leyen, said she will monitor Australia’s experiment. Denmark has announced plans to ban social media for under-15s, while Norway is considering a similar proposal. A French parliamentary enquiry has also recommended banning under-15s from social media, and a social media “curfew” for 15- to 18-year-olds. The Spanish government has drafted a law which would require legal guardians to authorise access for under-16s.
In the UK, new safety rules introduced in July 2025 mean online companies face large fines or even the jailing of their executives if they fail to implement measures to protect young people from seeing illegal and harmful content.
In the US, 35 states have ether fully prohibited or restricted cell phone use in schools. That is a monumental sift. Just two years ago, Florida became the first to issue a ban. Other nations are contemplating similar steps.
IMPLICATIONS FOR INDIA
India’s child population (0 to 18) forms a significant chunk of its total, around 25 representing nearly 19% of the world’s children. Asper the UNICEF out of total child population of 43 crore nearly 12 crore children fall in the age group of 10 to 15. Some experts estimate that nearly 5 to 7 crore children are using internet linked social media platform in way or other. This raises serious concern about social media safety for children. Currently, India’s legal framework for online child safety is a mix of child protection laws and cyber regulation aimed at safeguarding minors from digital harms, The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POSCO) Act 2012 criminalises sexual exploitation of minors ensuring child friendly procedures during investigation and trial. The Information technology (IT)Act ,2000 especially Section 67 B penalises the publishing or transmission of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and mandates intermediaries to remove such content upon notification.
The IT Rules 2021 further strengthen accountability by requiring grievance redressal mechanism, traceability of offenders and content moderation obligations, directly impacting children’s online safety.
Reports from UNICEF highlight a surge in CSAM cases online growing and cyberbullying incidents reflecting persistent gaps in platform accountability and transparency.
As per a report by the NITI Ayog rt children in the age group of 11 to 15 spend 4 hours daily on internet. According to recent data, the majority of children are accessing the internet from an early age. There was steep rise of 32% in cyber-crime against children from 2021 to 2022 as per National Crime Records Bureau official data. There was steep rise of 32% in cyber-crime against children from 2021 to 2022 as per National Crime Records Bureau official data. During past one decade India has also witnessed increase in heinous crimes by minors, and nearly 30 percent of them are said to be ‘inspired’ by social media platforms. Thus, India is facing problem of growing crimes against children and also crime by children that are related to the social media platforms.
The existing legislations in India has several significant gaps, thereby limiting the effective protection for children in the digital realm. Moreover, technological advancements, such as encrypted messaging platforms and peer-to-peer networks, have made detecting and prosecuting offenders increasingly difficult. Most parents of teenage children and schools feel that India can follow the Australian legislation specially in making tec companies more responsible.
THE WAY AHEAD
Law alone is not enough. While the legislation rightly places greater accountability on social media providers, parents must remain central to efforts to reduce digital harms. Empowering parents and caregivers to better understand social media and the potential benefits and risks is essential.
The ban has brought welcome attention to the complexities of adolescent social media use, creating an opportunity to advance conversations around digital safety and wellbeing. A coordinated, harm minimisation approach, grounded in evidence and inclusive of adolescents, parents, schools, and technology providers, is needed to create safer, healthier digital environments for all children globally.
Joseph A. G.
The writer has been a journalist covering social policies and governance and author of dozen books. He has been actively involved in Children’s rights and wellbeing campaign at the national and international level including UN and IFJ. Joseph has also served as Asia Coordinator, Research and Documentation for CWA, Bangkok
Saturday, January 24, 2026