The Australian Government's social media age delay is an unfortunate but necessary step to protect children from escalating levels of online sexual abuse and exploitation.
For over fifteen years, social media companies have promoted their sites to children and parents as fun, informative and, above all, safe. The evidence tells a different story. Reports of online child sexual abuse have increased every year for two decades, reflecting both the scale of harm and the persistent failure of technology companies to implement basic safety measures. Globally, 300 million children experience online sexual abuse each year, and the majority of this occurs on social media platforms.
Despite repeated warnings from governments, experts and survivor advocates, social media companies have prioritised growth and engagement over child protection. Essential safeguards have not been implemented. This has left children exposed to industrial-scale exploitation and placed an unacceptable burden on families, educators and frontline responders.
The Childlight East Asia & Pacific Hub supports regulation that puts children's rights and safety first. Age restrictions are not a silver bullet, nor are they a substitute for comprehensive regulation and company accountability. But they are a necessary circuit-breaker in a sector where voluntary industry action has demonstrably failed.
We urge the government to accompany age verification with robust investment in:
- Strong regulatory frameworks that oblige platforms to detect, prevent and transparently report child sexual exploitation and abuse,
- An enforceable "duty of care" for online services that prioritises the needs and rights of children,
- Comprehensive health, welfare and safety support services for child victims and adult survivors of technology facilitated child sexual abuse and exploitation,
- The targeted removal of child sexual abuse material of Australian children that continues to proliferate online,
- Law enforcement access to evolutions in technological solutions to counter child sexual exploitation and assist in victim identification,
- Outreach and support services for children whose social connection or wellbeing may be affected by the ban, and,
- Ongoing evaluation to ensure the policy is effective and does not create unintended harms.
Children have a right to participate in online life. For too long, that right has been compromised by social media companies unwilling to meet their basic child protection obligations. Today's measure is a necessary step toward resetting that balance.
