Albanese’s ‘knee-jerk’ social media ban not enough to curb growing harm from eating disorders, experts say

Research shows social media use, particularly Instagram and TikTok, is harmful to body image perceptions but ‘a ban alone is not going to do it’, Prof Sarah Maguire says. Photograph: Crispin la valiente/Getty Images

Australia’s eating disorder peak body and leading experts say a social media ban for under-16s is not enough to curb the scale of harm being done to young people on platforms, with one describing it as a “knee-jerk” policy response.

They are instead calling on the federal government to make changes to legislation governing platforms so providers could be forced to be more transparent about algorithms – including allowing people to reset them – and remove harmful content.