Social media ban: Crossbenchers, Nationals MP sound alarm over ‘rushed’ ban on under-16s

Social media companies will be barred from demanding people giving them copies of government-issued documents like drivers licenses or digital ID under changes to the age limit bill designed to placate worried Coalition backbenchers.

Parliament is expected to pass the bill requiring companies including TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Reddit, Facebook and X to keep young Australians off their platforms, which will come into effect in a year’s time.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton initially proposed a version of the age limit in June and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese later followed suit.

But the laws were only put to Parliament last Thursday and a committee given just five days to examine the world-leading legislation.

Nearly 15,000 people made submissions to that snap inquiry, which will report late on Tuesday.

Liberals and Nationals discussed the plan to ban under-16s from social media for more than 90 minutes in a meeting in Canberra on Tuesday morning, with many raising concerns about the laws being rammed through Parliament in just a week.

Ultimately, senators Alex Antic and Matt Canavan are expected to oppose the bill outright, while at least two other MPs are understood to have reserved their position.

But it will still have overwhelming support from Labor and the Coalition.

Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie has blasted the Government for putting up a “ghost bill” and urged Peter Dutton not to fall for it.

She said there was no reason for the rush to pass the laws this week.

“For the sake of our kids, for the sake of what is happening to them because of these social media platforms, wouldn’t we take a little bit longer to get this actually right?” she said.

“We want this done properly so we can stop losing those young lives, and quite frankly, the social media companies, once again, are getting off scot-free.

“They’re not being held accountable for this. This is just rubbish. This is just a ghost bill that’s not going to do anything in the way it is right now ... and I’ll be very, very surprised if Peter Dutton falls for this.”

Crossbench colleague David Pocock said he agreed with the principle of protecting young Australians but the process “doesn’t cut it” and he still had concerns about how it would work.

Shadow communications minister David Coleman told his colleagues the Government had agreed to amendments including to make sure social media companies could not force people to hand over identity documents. Nor will they be allowed to request the Digital ID currently being set up by the Government.

Separately, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland confirmed to Labor colleagues that platformed would not be allowed to compel people to hand over their ID.

She said the disquiet in the Coalition party room was concerning, despite Mr Dutton’s personal backing for the ban.

Mr Coleman told colleagues the platforms could already identify younger people, citing Tiktok’s move to boot underage users off its app last year.

“They simply don’t want to, because it reduces the number of users that they have, and, of course, their advertising revenue. So you know that they will resist, but we know that they can do it,” he said.

He acknowledged the ban was no silver bullet but said it was a very good start.