Author: Lisa M. Given, Professor of Information Sciences & Director, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University

The South Australian government is moving ahead with plans to ban children under 14 from social media. Under the proposal, teens aged 14 and 15 would also need parental consent to have social media accounts. South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas has flagged the consequences for social media companies that don’t comply with the new rules would be “severe and harsh”. He discussed the proposal with other state premiers and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a cabinet meeting last week, and is encouraging national adoption of the proposed strategy. Malinauskas has attributed the decision to “mounting evidence” of the “adverse impact”…