His Excellency Shane Flanagan
As a diplomat and a dad to three sons, I often think about how the world our children are growing up in has changed. Their friendships, learning and even their sense of self unfold not just in classrooms or parks – but also on screens. Around the world, parents are asking the same question: how do we make the online environment safe enough for our children to grow with confidence? The question of how to keep children safe in a digital world was at the heart of the discussion at the United Nations (UN) September 2025 General Assembly “Protecting Children in the Digital Age event” in New York, where Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led global leaders in calling for stronger international cooperation on online safety.
In Australia, our government has taken a bold step to protect the wellbeing of young people and families in the digital age. On 10 December 2025, Australia will implement a new law setting 16 years as the minimum age for people to hold a social media account.
This law is not cutting access to publicly available content, but rather, delaying access to social media accounts until the age of 16, from the current age of 13.
Age-restricted social media platforms will include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube, amongst other platforms. These platforms will face fines of up to AU$49.5 million if they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent people under 16 from holding accounts on their services.
This law is also not a retreat from digital life. Rather, it is a considered attempt to recalibrate the balance between childhood development and digital exposure. This will give young Australians three more years of being shaped by real life experience, not algorithms.
This law gives families breathing room. Parents and caregivers no longer have to negotiate endless comparisons or explain why “everyone else” can do what their children cannot. It lifts the burden from every household, setting one clear collective standard.
Prime Minister Albanese captured the urgency very clearly at the UN recently, explaining: “We want children to have a childhood, to live a life lit up not by the glow of a screen but by all the wonderful ingredients that go into making the human experience.” Australia’s approach is simple. The digital environment should be safe for children. Social media platforms expose our children to risks ranging from endless content feeds, engagement prompts and exposure to violence and inappropriate content.
Our policy reflects Australian family values, which I know Qatar shares.
In conversations with Qatari parents, I hear many of the same concerns expressed by families in Australia: How do we help our children recognize online risks? How do we shield them from content meant for adults? And how can we encourage healthy digital habits without cutting them off from the benefits of technology? Qatar has invested significantly in strengthening its digital protections through robust cyber laws, a national cybersecurity framework and public awareness efforts led by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the National Cyber Security Agency and the Communications Regulatory Authority. Qatar’s focus on equipping young people with digital literacy skills recognizes that safety, resilience and opportunity must go hand in hand.
Both our countries are witnessing a national effort to unify strategies that protect our children from the harms of the internet and social media.
This is where our experiences meet. What we are doing is tough, no doubt — but the weight that social media places on our young people’s shoulders can be far heavier.
What matters is we are keeping the conversation going – from across the kitchen tables of our homes, to classrooms, and among policy makers and leaders, to the global stage – together we can work to ensure we give children the space to grow up safely and support our shared family values.
