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New Zealand should copy the Australian ban on social media for children under 16, a public health researcher says.
The Australian government said it would pass a law banning social media for children under 16. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced yesterday that a bill will be introduced to parliament within weeks.
Under the law, social media platforms like X, TikTok and Instagram would be responsible for working out how to block children under 16 from using the sites.
Nine to Noon host Kathryn Ryan spoke with University of Auckland senior research fellow Samantha Marsh - who is also spokesperson for the lobby group Before 16 - who said New Zealand should follow Australia's lead.
Australia proposes social media ban on under 16s – calls for NZ to follow
Marsh said the responsibility should shift to social media platforms, where age verification technology was increasingly effective.
"They're huge tech industries - they know how old kids are ... I don't think it should be falling on kids themselves. It's a platform that elicits addictive-like behaviours. We can't rely on teenagers and kids to monitor themselves."
Monitoring children's online behaviour shouldn't fall to parents and caregivers either, as that would be a "full-time job", Marsh said.
The Australian legislation was designed to empower parents, she added.
"It's about standing up and saying, we know this is harming our kids and we need to do something about it. Just like we do with alcohol and vaping.
"Kids will find a workaround ... but that's the same for those other products as well."
Ryan queried whether the age of 16 was too high to be practicably enforceable?
The key was to keep children off social media before then, Marsh said, as that was when they were especially vulnerable to adverse effects on their mental health.
"In a perfect world I'd say 18 - like we do with other products like this. But I don't think 16 is at all too old.
"Before that age, there's a lot of brain development going on that these products can really interfere with."
Among the downsides found in research were increases in anxiety, depression, self harm, sleep, self esteem and attention.
"I see this as a real public health issue, and it impacts kids differently."
Most parents these days remembered the time before social media, and kids needed to be supported to transition "back to the life ... we grew up in, where we had great friendships without social media".
Australian opposition to ban
The Australian Child Rights Taskforce - made up of over 100 academics and 20 civil society organisations - wrote an open letter to the Australian government last month, calling instead on Albanese to impose "safety standards" on social media platforms.
Among the concerns were the affects the ban would have on access and participation for young people, and that it would dis-incentivise social media platforms from having safety features.
One of those signatories was Professor Judith Bessant, from RMIT University in Melbourne.
She told Nine to Noon there were significant benefits to social media, and the policy would not be enforceable.
"The idea that platforms will self-regulate is ridiculous. It's in their interest not to.
"They benefit themselves from surveilling everyone ... they scrape the personal data and then they sell it on to others, and then it's used to hit you with advertisements."
"They idea that they will regulate themselves - it's not gonna happen."
Albanese's suggestion the law would make it easier for parents was false, and there was no clarity on how it would enforced, she said.
"It's not being thought through... It will create more tension and ... family conflict. A lot of parents won't understand what's going on, but will be fearful that it's illegal."
She also questioned how it would be enforced in schools.
"Young people still use it at lunchtime, before and after school. It's going to cause a lot of tension."
Bessant said there needed to be communication with children about the impact of social media use.
"I'm not saying we have a laissez-faire approach. We do have a responsibility and duty of care to young people, but this is not going to work."
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