By Editor,Peter van Onselen

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Block teenagers from watching porn next, Albo: Exclusive Resolve poll reveals a super-majority of Australians want PM to go even further than his under-16s social media ban

READ MORE: How the under-16 social media ban will work

By PETER VAN ONSELEN, POLITICAL EDITOR, AUSTRALIA

Published: 14:59 BST, 24 September 2025 | Updated: 15:09 BST, 24 September 2025

Australian voters don’t just support the government’s social media crackdown – they want it to go much further by extending it to pornography, according to an exclusive Resolve poll seen by the Daily Mail.

The poll, commissioned by Hilma’s Network, found that sixty-eight per cent of those surveyed backed the ban on under-16s using social media, with just 13 per cent opposed.

However, when it comes to minors accessing online pornography, support hardens significantly, with 79 per cent in favour of enforced blocks and just seven per cent opposed.

‘We knew the social media ban was popular with Australians, but we wanted to know whether they believed more reform was required, and overwhelmingly they do,’ said Charlotte Mortlock, co-founder of Hilma’s Network.

The academic evidence is clear: early and unrestricted exposure to pornography distorts attitudes toward sex, consent and relationships at a stage when young people are still forming their sense of self.

It can also normalise unrealistic expectations, reinforce harmful stereotypes and risk shaping behaviour in ways that undermine healthy development.

When Resolve polling also asked voters about the machinery that supercharges outrage online – algorithms – some 67 per cent wanted the right to opt out, with only four per cent against such consumer-driven powers.

Mortlock said: ‘Australians are aware that they are being led down rabbit holes of extremism that are creating family estrangements, ruining friendships, polarising democracy and increasingly turning up the dial on what is now very dangerous rhetoric.

Charlotte Mortlock, co-founder of Hilma’s Network, said Australians want the world-first social media ban for under-16s to extend to online pornography

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s social media ban will be in effect from December 10

‘If we want to return to having a sense of community, we cannot keep selling our attention and engagement for the profits of social media giants.’

The under-16s social media ban – already legislated by Anthony Albanese’s government – is due to start on December 10, with platforms (not just parents) on the hook to keep kids off.

The eSafety Commissioner has published how it will work and is already warning companies that ‘reasonable steps’ won’t include just box-ticking.

Penalties will follow if they play it cute and don’t invest in ways to ensure under-16s don’t find workarounds to the ban.

But the Resolve research highlights that there is a public desire for the government to go further than it currently is.

You don’t have to buy into every pearl-clutching claim about engagement juicing online to see the benefits in banning access to pornography for minors, alongside allowing people the right to opt out of social media algorithms that contribute to the self-reinforcing silo effect online.

Mortlock calls it ‘brain rot’.

If the business model rewards rage and compulsion, we should not be surprised when rage and compulsion are what follows increased social media usage at the moment.

Facebook has faced criticism about its algorithm feeding users extreme and divisive content to keep them glued to the platform and increase its profits (founder Mark Zuckerberg is pictured)

The social media companies will be threatened with $50million fines should they not make a serious effort to enforce the ban (stock image)

An opt-out from tracking-based feeds might help reduce online outrage.

It’s already happening elsewhere overseas.

Under the EU’s Digital Services Act, the biggest platforms must offer at least one recommended option ‘not based on profiling’.

That’s an opt-out by law. So what might the right to ‘opt out’ mean here?

Users would be presented with clean feeds; regulators would have audit rights over the ranking engines to test whether the promised non-profiling feed is real and not a fake.

The eSafety guidance points the way: ‘reasonable steps’ by platforms are required, not just impossible policing by parents.

Get that balance right, and the government can reduce harm without building a surveillance state.

Anthony Albanese

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Block teenagers from watching porn next, Albo: Exclusive Resolve poll reveals a super-majority of Australians want PM to go even further than his under-16s social media ban

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