<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>330372</docID> <postdate>2024-10-06 13:34:04</postdate> <headline>‘Line in the sand’: premier urges social media ban ASAP</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-315829" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/pexels-olly-3755620-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>The federal government is considering introducing legislation to ban children from social media. Photo: Andrea Piacquadio</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Andrew Brown</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>Any ban on young people using social media needs to be implemented as soon as possible, the NSW premier says.</strong></p> <p>Ahead of a two-day summit between the NSW and SA governments on addressing social media issues, Chris Minns said age restrictions for the tech platforms were more than needed.</p> <p>"I'd like to see (an age ban) done as soon as possible... ultimately, we have to draw a line in the sand," he told Sky News on Sunday.</p> <p>"This is a big change for Australia, but I think it's warranted, given this is, in my view a global, unregulated experiment on young people and the prevalent use of social media."</p> <p>It comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote to state and territory leaders asking for input on how an age ban on social media could be implemented.</p> <p>The federal government has indicated it will look to introduce legislation restricting social media use for young people, but an exact age limit has not been determined.</p> <p>The prime minister asked premiers and chief ministers their preference for an age limit, and how parental consent could be factored in.</p> <p>The leaders were also asked to consider whether young people with existing social media accounts would be exempt from any future ban.</p> <p>Mr Minns said he would want to see a social media ban start at age 16, but there needed to be a uniform approach across states and territories.</p> <p>"Wherever we end up is a world away from where we currently are, which is widespread use, which is obviously negative for a lot of people," he said.</p> <p>"The obligations would be on social media companies to make sure that they've got restrictions in place."</p> <p>Age verification trials are under way to help determine how a possible ban could be enforced.</p> </body>