Labor seeks to pressure platforms as new data shows kids' heavy social media use
New figures reveal the vast majority of Australian children are using social media in some form, which may complicate the government's ability to impose a ban on it.
The nation's top online safety official has revealed that the vast majority of Australian children are using social media and restricting usage will be difficult to implement, as the federal government released new details on its proposed age limits for the major platforms.
In an address to a social media summit hosted by the New South Wales and South Australian state governments, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant said her office had found that 84% children aged eight to 12 had used services including Meta-owned Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and X, formerly Twitter, since early 2024.
Slides shown to the audience revealed that 76% of children aged eight had used at least one of the services, which also included Alphabet-owned YouTube, BeReal and Telegram. Meanwhile, 79% of nine year olds had used at least one of the services; along with 82% of 10-year-olds; 89% of 11-year-olds; and, 93% of 12-year-olds reporting to have used one of the platforms.
Inman-Grant, a former Twitter executive whose office was established as the first of its kind globally in 2015, said on Thursday that the technology industry needs to do more on the issue, beginning with enforcing “their own rules”.
