Google, Meta want Australia to delay under 16 social media ban as LinkedIn complains teenagers don’t even use it

Global social media giants are resisting the Australian government’s proposed youth social media ban.

Labor is pushing for the controversial legislation to be passed by the end of the year and, if made law, it could see teenagers aged under 16 banned from signing up to Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok and even LinkedIn.

Thousands of submissions were made to the one-day parliamentary inquiry into the proposed bill – including by tech behemoths Meta and Alphabet.

Alphabet, which owns Google and YouTube, told the inquiry the government should delay the legislation until a trial of age-assurance technology is finished.

The company said the proposed bill shouldn’t be rushed through parliament without allowing platforms to develop workable solutions for imposing the ban.

“This includes the viability of age assurance technologies and an appropriate minimum age for access to social media services,” Google said in its submission.

“The trial is not due to finish its work until mid-2025.

“It is concerning that this bill is proceeding in advance of the trial’s conclusion.”

Google and YouTube said the government should also outline which media platforms it planned to include in the ban to “provide necessary clarity and certainty to Australian users”.

Facebook and Instagram’s parent company Meta described the bill in its current form as “inconsistent and ineffective” and supported Google’s call for a delay.

Fellow social media giant TikTok, owned by Chinese parent company ByteDance, added its two cents to the debate.

It warned in a submission the bill would require Australians to have a “licence to be online”.

“As the government’s admissions in Budget Estimates make clear, age-restricted social media platforms will need to undertake age assurance for each and every Australian user in order to remove age-restricted users from their services,”

TikTok’s Australian director of public policy Ella Woods-Joyce said.

“This effectively creates a mechanism whereby Australians need a ‘licence to be online’.”

Woods-Joyce urged the government to consider the negative impact of forcing potentially every Australian to verify their age online.

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn, which has sparked debate about its inclusion in the bill, told the inquiry teenagers don’t use its platform anyway.

LinkedIn said it is “not popular with minors” and said it does not have content that would be deemed interesting to those aged under 16.

It remains unknown if LinkedIn would be included in the list if the ban is imposed.

The Elon Musk-owned X said in a submission the company would review its legal rights if the bill is passed.

“We have serious concerns as to the lawfulness of the bill, including its compatibility with other regulations and laws, including international human rights treaties to which Australia is a signatory,” it said.

Musk also personally criticised the proposed legislation on X and claimed it was a “backdoor” way for the government to control Australian access to the web.

Snapchat is wildly popular with underage users and weighed in on the proposed bill earlier this year.

Snap Inc said in a submission that experts did not support the bill and warned it could “deny young people access to valuable mental health and wellbeing resources”.

In September, billionaire Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel told The Sydney Morning Herald parents should control a child’s access to social media, not the government.

“Parents have already got these tools today,” he said.

“We use the iOS-level controls and screen time to limit what our teen – we’ve got an almost 14-year-old at home – what he’s able to use.

“We have ‘family centre’ as well inside of Snapchat that allows parents to monitor their teens’ activity on Snapchat and put in place more stringent content controls and things like that.”