Internet Search Engine Services Online Safety Code and Social Media Minimum Age Rules
On Monday, 13 October 2025, John Pane, EFA Chair appeared before Senate Estimates and gave evidence in respect of the fundamentally flawed “social media ban” for under 16 year olds and the proposed Internet Search Engine Code.
EFA strongly believes both codes are not fit for purpose, and that the government has had its thumb on the scale while drafting its policy, and abused its numbers in the House last year to force the SMMA rules through without sufficient public consultation or House oversight.
Bad policy makes for bad law. And when bad law is supported by high-risk and frequently inaccurate underlying technology — in particular, age assurance and verification technologies — not only will our kids be worse off, but adults will be too, as this is the Trojan horse for digital ID.
Stopping kids from accessing social media or adult content will not stop cyberbullying, doom-scrolling, rage bait, misinformation/disinformation, algorithmic manipulation, FOMO, or guerrilla marketing techniques.
We need to break the Big Tech surveillance-based, data-extractive business model for everyone’s sake, not just kids. To do that, we need:
- A digital duty of care
- Privacy enshrined as a human right in a national charter of rights
- Age appropriate design laws for kids
- Stronger privacy laws that mandate privacy by default, data minimization, and use limitation
- Appropriate online safety education and resources for both kids and their parents
Watch EFA’s evidence at the Senate Environment and Communications References Committee below (evidence from 4:56:50)
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