SYDNEY, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- A summit on the impact of social media on Australian children and a national proposal to impose strict minimum age limits opened in Sydney on Thursday.
The first of its kind Social Media Summit brought together experts, policymakers, academics, young people and community voices to discuss the positive and negative impacts of social media on people's lives.
Co-hosted by the state governments of New South Wales and South Australia, it came as the federal government explored imposing a strict minimum age requirement for using social media.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced in September that legislation for the age limit would be introduced to parliament before the end of 2024. He said that the government was consulting on an age limit between 14 and 16 and that his preference was to set it at 16.
Addressing the summit on Thursday, Australia's eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, said that research undertaken by her office found that 84 percent of Australian children aged eight to 12 are active on social media despite being under the age limit of 13 set by social media companies.
"Considering Australia's population of roughly 1.6 million 8-12-year-olds, this suggests that approximately 1.34 million have used an online service since the beginning of 2024," Grant said.
Chris Minns, premier of New South Wales, had released the findings of a major statewide survey that found 87 percent of respondents were in favor of implementing age restrictions for social media use.
A 6.5 million Australian dollars (4.3 million U.S. dollars) government-funded trial of age verification technology for creating social media accounts will start later in October. ■
