Should children be banned from using social media?

What do you think of the idea of children being banned from using social media?

Do you think it's a good idea which would keep young people safe from inappropriate content or a bad idea that could stop them communicating online?

In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced plans for a social media ban for children there.

The planned changes would bring in a minimum age - expected to be between 14 and 16 - to use social media by the end of the year.

He said the impact of the sites on young people was causing "harm", and that they should be outside playing sport instead.

Join in with our vote and let us know what you think in the comments below.

The law would put Australia among the first countries in the world to impose an age restriction on social media.

"I want to see kids off their devices and onto the footy fields and the swimming pools and the tennis courts," said Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

"We want them to have real experiences with real people because we know that social media is causing social harm," he added.

He said his government would run a trial of ways to check ages before introducing age minimum laws for social media this year.

However not everyone agrees with the plan.

Australia's internet regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, warned that restrictions may "limit young people's access to critical support" and push them to "less regulated non-mainstream services".

Some experts worry that children may be excluded from participating in the digital world or it could lead to children trying to hide their online activity.

Also campaigners have argued that rather than stopping young people using social media altogether, the pressure should be on social media companies to do more to protect young users.

What's happening in the UK?

Many social media apps have age restrictions for using them- some are 13 but others are 16 or even 18.

However some experts say those rules aren't enforced properly and research shows many younger people use social media platforms anyway.

In the UK, Ofcom - the group which oversees rules for UK TV, radio and internet - says children regularly see harmful content on social media.

In May 2024, Ofcom published more than 40 guidelines it says sites and apps should follow to keep children safe online.

These included bringing in new ways to check how old users are, changing what they see, removing harmful content more effectively, and helping users report it.

Recent changes to the law - the Online Safety Act - aim to make online and social media companies legally responsible for keeping children and young people safe online.

"Young people are fed harmful content on their feed again and again and this has become normalised but it needs to change,” said Ofcom boss Dame Melanie Dawes.

In the UK, the previous government under Rishi Sunak, also warned it could bring in strict rules to ban under-18s from social media if companies don't do more to protect young people.

Some of the big social media companies say they have extra protections for users who are under-18 and that these help parents control what their children see.

What do you think - should children be banned from using social media? Let us know in the comments below.