‘Sensible’: Dutton puts X on notice

Peter Dutton has laid out his plans to crack down on young people’s social media use, arguing that lifting the minimum age for social media platforms from 13 to 16 is a “sensible measure”.

Mr Dutton has also announced Coalition would also require social media companies to verify the age of users to ensure kids under 16 weren’t accessing the platforms.

Speaking on Thursday, the Opposition Leader gave more details as to how the plan would work and said the co-operation of big tech companies was necessary for it to be successful.

“I just think given the exposure that we see young kids get now online, it’s a huge and confronting world out there. We see an increase in the number of self-harms, young girls who are suffering from eating disorders, image issues, etc,” Mr Dutton told Sunrise.

“A lot of that constant stream has a negative impact, and I think this is a sensible measure.

“There’s a lot of technology in place to help with the age verification that’s not going to take people’s data, etc … so I think it’s a well-balanced approach.”

Mr Dutton said he expected social media giants including Elon Musk’s X to comply with proposed new rules around verifying the ages of users on their platforms.

“I think we can work with the technology companies. We can work through the tax system or whatever is required to budge these companies into an outcome,” he said.

Announcing the policy on Wednesday, Mr Dutton said raising the age to 16 would give “parents more power in the equation” because there was a lot of pressure and examples of kids being isolated from their friendship groups and not being able to communicate.

“That was the case over Covid, and many of them wouldn’t have coped without the ability to share their story and their journey,” he said.

“It’s the case that we need to have just a sensible, moderate approach. Nobody’s saying ‘ban the internet’ or any of that sort of nonsense.”

Mr Dutton shared his own experience, saying his children grew up with social media and that was how his family stayed connected.

But when his children were younger, the Duttons were strict about what they had access to, particularly friendship groups online.

“But it’s a tough conversation because it’s the way that kids communicate with their own friendship groups. They want privacy, but you’re just blind to any of that,” he said.

“So, there’s a very different path that some kids can take as a result of being exposed to it.”

News Corp has been running a Let Them Be Kids campaign, calling for the minimum age for social media to be raised to 16.

It follows advice from medical, mental health and child experts, with Mr Dutton saying when he worked as a police officer he was in the sex offenders’ squad pre-internet.

“It was an area where you saw people exposed to the worst element of society and how they coped with that,” he said.

“But now it’s on an industrial scale in terms of the content that young kids are subject to.

“We wouldn’t in the real world allow our kids to go into a park or into a shopping centre just to hang out with any adult that came by.”

Mr Dutton said it was not unreasonable to do everything possible to support young people.

“The evidence is so obvious that the self-harm and the pressure that comes on young people through sharing of images, etc, that’s the reality of their life now,” he said.