South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas told CNN’s Jake Tapper that his country’s world-first social media ban for children under 16 was meant to protect them from addictive algorithms, and asked: “What’s the worst that could happen here by delaying children’s access to social media?”
In an exclusive feature, Tapper spoke with ban proponent Malinauskas and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation: The Great Rewiring of Childhood is Driving an Epidemic of Mental Illness.”
Australia has banned under-16s from using 10 platforms: Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, Kick, Reddit, Twitch, and X. Platforms have said they will comply with the ban by using age verification technology to identify those under 16 and suspend their accounts, but they do not believe it will make children safer.
Mr Malinauskas commissioned the South Australian bill that led to the national ban.
He acknowledged the value of having social media, but added: “It’s harmful to children.”
“We know conclusively that it is having a serious impact on thousands of young children around the world,” the Prime Minister said.
When asked about teenagers moving to unbanned platforms and still being able to access potentially harmful parts of the internet, the Australian Prime Minister specifically pointed to concerns about social media apps.
“The difference between everything available on the internet and social media services is their addictiveness. It’s the algorithms,” he told Tapper. Malinauskas said social media applications allow children to share personal data with companies “for their use and monetization” and the ban could add to the platform.
The Prime Minister said social media apps that meet the criteria could be added to the ban.
“Our laws are very flexible, so for platforms and businesses that meet the criteria, the eSafety Commissioner and Minister can add them to the list and they will also be banned,” Malinauskas said.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant also previously said the list of banned sites is evolving and new sites may be added as they become more popular or offer new services.
Mr Haidt described social media as “the greatest corporate destruction of human potential in human history” and said banning it in Australia would help children.
“Kids will actually be more motivated to spend time with other kids, and that’s the best thing they can do for their mental health,” Hite said.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that the ban was not perfect and said reports of teenagers using VPNs to circumvent the ban were “all very predictable”. But he stressed that thousands of Australian children now have more time on their hands because they no longer have access to their social media accounts.
“But more than that, parents are now talking to their kids in ways they didn’t feel empowered to do before the ban,” Malinauskas said.
A South Australian leader has told of a recent interaction with a flight attendant whose daughter lost access to her Snapchat account.
“She was still looking at her phone, but she was looking at it a lot less,” Malinauskas said, adding that her mother said she noticed an improvement in her ability to communicate with her daughter.
Watch the full interview with South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas and Jonathan Haidt, author of Anxious Generations, on CNN.com/Watch.
