Australia will set the minimum age for using social media to be between 14 and 16, under a bill expected to come into force this year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced today, who would prefer to see the young people to play “on the pitches” rather than in front of their screens.

The prime minister called the sites a “scourge” on young people and said the federal law setting the limit would come into effect in 2024, clarifying that the minimum age to log on to Facebook, Instagram and TikTok should be determined between 14 and 16 years.

The law in question will make Australia one of the first countries in the world to impose an age restriction on the use of social media. Previous attempts, including by the European Union, had failed after protests that it restricted the rights of minors on the Internet.

In the coming months and before the text enters into force, tests will be carried out on how age can be checked when connecting, Albanese added.

“I want to see children away from their screens, on football fields, in swimming pools and on tennis courts”said the center-left prime minister.

“We want them to have real experiences with real people because we know social media is bad for society.”he also stated speaking to the national television network ABC.

Asked repeatedly about the issue, Anthony Albanese stated that he personally would like the minimum age to be 16 years.

Conservative Opposition Leader Peter Dutton supported the government bill.

“Every day of delay leaves young children vulnerable to social media threats”he emphasized.

Analysts, however, estimate that the imposition of an age limit is not going to help young people who are facing problems at a social level.

For Daniel Angus, a professor at the Queensland University of Technology, the government plan is “frivolous” also because it was announced before the final report of a parliamentary inquiry into the impact of social media on Australian society.

The plan “undermines research and the principles of participatory democracy and threatens to cause significant injustices by excluding young people from participating meaningfully and healthily in the digital world,” continues the expert, who heads the university’s digital media research arm. information.

The law could redirect many children to “lower-quality spaces on the Internet” by “removing important social media,” he adds.

According to Toby Murray, assistant professor of information and information technology at the University of Melbourne, it is not even certain that the technical means to implement such an age limit exist today.

“The government is testing an age-checking technology. But we already know that today’s methods are unreliable, too easy to bypass, or dangerous to users’ privacy.”he argues.

The Prime Minister emphasizes for his part that parents are waiting for an answer to the problem of harassment through the Internet and for there to be a way to control access to dangerous content posted on social media.

In the same direction, a bill, which sets at 13 the minimum age for someone to use social media, was submitted in April to the Senate of United States by Democratic and Republican senators, but no date has yet been set for it to be debated.

At FrancePresident Emmanuel Macron had advocated in June for a ban on mobile phones “before the age of 11” and social media “before the age of 15”.

In 2023, a study by the University of Sydney had shown that three quarters of Australians aged 12 to 17 have used YouTube or Instagram.