Australian children could soon be banned from accessing social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok amid growing concern about the effect on youth mental health.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed on Tuesday his government would introduce landmark legislation to enforce a minimum age for access to social media.

“We are taking this action because enough is enough,” Albanese said in a statement provided before the announcement.

“Parents are worried sick about this.

“The safety and mental and physical health of our young people is paramount.”

Legislation will be introduced before the end of the year after a trial of age verification.

The bill will draw on a 276-page report by former High Court chief justice Robert French, which was commissioned by the South Australian government and released on Sunday.

South Australia has proposed banning children under 13 and parental consent between the ages of 14 and 15.

The federal government has not specified a minimum age for its national framework.

On Tuesday morning, Albanese said he wanted to see kids “off their devices” and onto the footy fields, swimming pools and tennis courts.

“We want them to have real experiences with real people. We know that social media is causing social harm,” he told ABC’s News Breakfast.

He said there would be an age verification trial over the next couple of months.

“We’ve committed to introducing legislation before the end of this year for age verification to make sure that we get young people away from this social harm,” he said.

“This is a scourge. We know there is mental health consequences for what many of the young people have had to deal with – the bullying that can occur online, the access to material which causes social harm – and parents are wanting a response.”

Albanese said social media giants needed to take responsibility.

“They’re not above everyone else. They can’t just say, ‘We’re a big multinational company. We can do whatever we like’, regardless of the harm that’s being caused,” he said.

French’s report includes a draft bill to ban children under 14 from social media and requiring companies to gain parental consent for 14 and 15-year-olds to use their platforms.

SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said his state’s bill would require platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to ensure they took all reasonable steps to prevent children from getting access.

“The evidence shows early access to addictive social media is causing our kids harm,” Malinauskas said.

“This is no different to cigarettes or alcohol. When a product or service hurts children, governments must act.”

Albanese’s announcement came on the same day research was released from the Australian National University showing regular social media use is negatively affecting the life satisfaction of high school students.

The study found non-binary students who regularly use social media reported the lowest levels of life satisfaction. Those who used Twitter/X reported higher levels of life satisfaction.

TikTok, Reddit and Twitch users who identified as male or female all had lower life satisfaction than those who did not use these platforms.

The research looked at the effect of regular use of certain social media platforms on life satisfaction levels for Year 10 and 11 students across the nation.

Participants were asked to rate their life satisfaction on a scale from zero to 10, from “completely dissatisfied” to “completely satisfied”.

Lead researcher Professor Ben Edwards said young people faced many challenges that could affect their life satisfaction but data showed the use of social media platforms often made it worse.

Edwards said while the research did not ask why teens were using particular social media sites, the reason non-binary participants who used X might have higher life satisfaction was because they might be able to find a sense of community.

“Our findings, don’t directly speak to [proposed age limits on social media] but if the regulations would go further, I think that there should be consultation with young people, particularly those from minority groups such as non-binary and other genders, because I think social media can be quite valuable as a support,” he said.

-with AAP