Albanese says Elon Musk has an agenda on social media ban

“I foreshadowed the whole way through … I’ve spoken about 2025 as being the election year. So we’ve got a bit of time,” he said.

The social media ban – which will affect platforms including Facebook, Instagram and Reddit – has attracted global attention, with Australia the first democracy to put in place a ban on under-16s.

Musk, whose X platform will also be affected by the ban, has described it as a “backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians”.

Albanese said he was prepared to talk to anyone about the ban and its implementation, but he stressed that the parliament had clearly supported the move.

“We’ll talk to anyone,” he said. “But with regard to Elon Musk, he has an agenda, he’s entitled to push that as the owner of X, formerly known as Twitter.

“But we are determined to get this done. The parliament has overwhelmingly passed this legislation and it’s the right thing to do.

“I want children to have a childhood. I want them to engage with each other.”

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