THE DANGERS OF UNRESTRICTED ACCESS TO SOCIAL MEDIA BY YOUTH AND MEASURES TO REDUCE CONCERNS: RECENT AUSTRALIAN BANS ON YOUNG SOCIAL MEDIA USERS AND LESSONS RELEVANT FOR THAI SOCIETY

บทคัดย่อ

Currently, children and youth in every country around the world are negatively affected by the use of social media platforms. Many countries have recognized the educational and health problems for their youth and are starting to implement measures to protect them from harmful effects. Australia, in particular, has taken serious action to address this issue by enacting the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, which came into effect on December 10, 2025. This legislation contains some of the strictest measures for controlling youth social media use in the world, despite some limitations, such as rights to information individual privacy and student safety, of this law. Significant results of these Australian restrictions on young users will take up to several years to become apparent; however, the lessons learned will be highly relevant for Thailand, where penetration of social media is also very high.  Public pressure will almost certainly move Thailand toward more regulation of social media; so the Australian experience will be very useful for government planners in designing access strategies, user account requirements, exemptions, platform responsibilities, industrial liaison, complaint procedures, and legal compliance - to maximize benefits and safety for Thai users.