The Albanese government’s bill to ban teens from social media was introduced into Parliament last week. The proposal had been expected to sail through both houses after the leaders of both major parties signalled their support, all but guaranteeing it would become law before the end of the sitting year.
But the ban is now facing a growing amount of dissent, including from inside the major parties. A snap inquiry was called late last week, garnering about 15,000 submissions from the public in just over a day — doing nothing to relieve the increasing pressure on the government.
We’ve tallied up some of the major players who’ve indicated their support or opposition to passing the bill in its current form to show how the battle lines have been drawn.
In support
News Corp Australia — the media giant has backed the ban, using the front pages of its metropolitan tabloids to urge politicians to “Do this for our kids”.
36 Months — Co-founded by Sydney breakfast radio host Michael “Wippa” Wipfli, this campaign argues “kids need more time to develop healthy and secure identities before they’re exposed to the minefield of social media”. Corporate sponsors include Hyundai, Nestle and Medibank.
School principals — Several associations for school principals, including the Australian Primary Principals Association and the Queensland Catholic Secondary Principals Association have voiced support for the ban, arguing social media use “can harm [students’] sleep, learning, and relationships”.
120 mental health and eating disorder clinicians — The Coalition’s communications spokesperson David Coleman in September said he had received a letter from 120 experts who agreed the minimum age for social media access should be set at 16.
Labor and the Coalition — Both major blocs in Parliament support the bill. In fact, the Liberals first dreamed up the concept, and then Labor ran with it. However, some Coalition politicians have recently voiced concerns about the ban.
Australia’s eSafety commissioner — In the past, Julie Inman Grant has signalled her lack of support for a teen social media ban (despite her being tasked with helping to implement it). But during the snap consultation, the Office of the eSafety Commissioner’s submission “welcomed the introduction” of the bill and reiterated the need for “national coordination and consistency” — hardly a glowing endorsement of the policy.
Against
The tech giants — The Digital Industry Group, a peak organisation representing social media providers including Meta, X, TikTok, Snap Inc and Google, has complained about the “rushed” pace of implementation and called for more scrutiny.
Elon Musk — the US tech mogul has opposed the idea on freedom of expression grounds, recently posting on X: “Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians.”
140 Australian and international experts on children and social media — A coalition of more than 140 Australian and international experts wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying: “Any restrictions in the digital world must … be designed with care and we are concerned that a ‘ban’ is too blunt an instrument to address risks effectively.”
Some Coalition politicians — Nationals Senator Matt Canavan, Liberal Senator Alex Antic and Nationals MP Keith Pitt are some of the Coalition members who have voiced concerns about the bill.
The Greens — The crossbench party has been critical of Labor and the Coalition for “ignoring expert evidence and ramming laws through Parliament to ban young people from social media without genuine scrutiny”.
Australia’s human rights commissioner — Lorraine Finlay has said the bill is “being rushed through” and raised concerns a teen social media ban could harm some of the most vulnerable and marginalised children.
Australia’s privacy commissioner — “We should not be too quick to accept that social media is so bad that it needs to be banned for the most vulnerable,” said Carly Kind.
Some teal independents — Zoe Daniel, Zali Steggall and Kylea Tink are among the independent MPs to have raised concerns about the proposal.
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