The Albanese government's move to ban children under the age of 16 from using social media platforms such as TikTok and Snapchat isn’t the first time Australia has led the world in Big Tech regulation.
The Coalition's introduction of the news media bargaining code in 2021 prompted similar steps in Canada and Indonesia as well as comparable proposals in several other countries including the UK and the US. The code is also a live issue again in Australia as the government faces growing pressure over its media reform plans.
Australia’s Online Safety Act also prompted similar measures in the UK and is reflected in Europe’s Digital Safety Act.
Those laws were tested in a public legal battle between the eSafety Commissioner and X earlier this year over violent video content. Australian politicians rallied around the watchdog, but in the end the lawsuit, which posed a threat to the inter-jurisdictional powers of the commissioner, was scrapped.
