Labor’s proposed ban on Australians under 16 using social media could very well fly through Parliament next week with the Coalition signalling strong support for the legislation.

It may be that many Australian parents will welcome a ban on kids under 16 using social media. There have been many reports in Australia of kids being bullied – even to the point of suicide – via social media, which may also expose young people to harmful adult-only content. Child safety appears to be the main motivation for the ban. It’s likely to capture all the popular social media platforms – YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram, Snapchat, etc – as well as ‘chat’ platforms like Reddit and even gaming platforms.

The legislation itself has not yet been released, but there is some information about how the government wants to go about implementing this ban.

No-one under 16 using social media would actually be penalised under the law when it comes into force, and nor would their parents or carers. The onus will be entirely on social media companies to take “reasonable steps” to block access, and they’ll be subject to fines (yet to be quantified) if the government determines they haven’t taken reasonable steps.

The law won’t come into force for at least a year after its passage through Parliament. There will be a transition period of at least 12 months. Labor says this time will be used to complete a $6.5 million trial of age verification technologies, to allow governments and the industry to implement systems and processes, and to develop ‘guidance’ for parents, carers and kids.

Age verification technology has had mixed results. Many websites – particularly those with adult content – already have verification systems of varying effectiveness. Social media platforms have them too. It’s not foolproof by any means.

It raises important questions about how intrusive the technology will be when those 16 years and older want to use social media. Will we need some form of recognised digital ID? Will we need to submit biometric data? Must we subject ourselves to facial recognition scans? Will we need internet-connected cameras to be on all the time so our identities can be verified? These are all questions which don’t yet have answers.

Once again, Labor appears to be outsourcing decisions which should be taken by parents to unelected bureaucrats – in this case, the eSafety Commissioner who will be responsible for monitoring social media companies’ compliance and determining which platforms will be exempt from the law. In other words, Julie Inman Grant – who famously clashed with X owner Elon Musk over content on his platform a couple of months ago – will be deciding for Australian parents the platforms their children can’t see.

Along with the misinformation and disinformation legislation, this bill is another example of the Albanese Labor government’s trust deficit with the Australian people. They don’t trust the us to decide for ourselves what is true, what is not, and what is appropriate for our kids. This is the same government which happily allows kids under 16 to be treated with puberty blockers at gender clinics or sit at drag queen story hours or engage in protests supporting terrorists, but has now decided that it’s more dangerous for them to watch a video on YouTube. It reeks of the control we all know Albanese would love to impose on Australia.

One Nation has always championed parental responsibility, and without being able to see the legislation or knowing precisely how it will be implemented, we have no choice at this stage but to oppose the under-16 social media ban in principle. We expect to confirm this position once we can review the bill in detail, so stay tuned because it’s been announced it will be introduced to Parliament in the next two weeks.