Tech billionaire Elon Musk has again taken aim at the Albanese government, as it rushes its proposed social media ban for teenagers towards law.

Australians aged under 16 will be banned from social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit and X (formerly Twitter) a year under legislation unveiled in Parliament on Thursday.

X-owner and Donald Trump confidante Musk has already slammed the legislation, saying it “seems like a backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians”.

The package has also sparked concern among international free speech and human rights advocates.

While acknowledging concerns about the negative impact of social media on children, free speech and anti-censorship advocate Michael Shellenberger said  a mandatory age limit was “a Trojan horse to create digital IDs”.

This would be “a giant leap into the totalitarian dystopia depicted in Black Mirror” and already in place in China,” he said.

Seems like a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians https://t.co/694yCzWOaB

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 21, 2024

The federal government has ruled out mandatory digital IDs and the Coalition has drawn a red line over their implementation.

Social media platforms will be responsible for enforcing the age limit. But they have raised concerns about the efficacy of technology that doesn’t unduly encroach on privacy.

Tech giants and human rights groups have also come out against a blanket social media ban on the grounds that the focus should be on creating a safe online experience and not stripping access to some of the positive benefits.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said there would be carve outs for platforms that focused on health and education, including Messenger Kids, WhatsApp, Kids Helpline, Google Classroom and YouTube.

The legislation could come into effect as early as the end of 2025 due to a minimum 12-month lead time from when it passes parliament – which it’s set to do imminently with Labor and Coalition support. However, the opposition wants even this reduced.

“We cannot act quickly enough because there is a tsunami of mental health issues occurring right now,” Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said in Canberra on Friday.

Boys were accessing violent porn in grade three and four, which affected their view of healthy relationships and women, and girls faced bullying on popular platforms, McKenzie said.

“We want to halt that harm and deal with the issues raised by families,” she said.

But she ruled out using digital IDs to verify a person’s age, with the onus set to be on social media platforms to enforce the ban rather than the federal government mandating a particular technology.

Companies that breach the minimum age obligation will face fines of up to $49.5 million.

The legislation will go under the microscope during a single-day parliamentary hearing on Monday. There has been criticism of the timeframe as as too short to adequately assess the impact and potential unintended consequences.

-with AAP