Representatives from the eSafety Youth Council and ReachOut made the comments at the Social Media and Australian Society inquiry on Wednesday, questioning whether research supported raising age restrictions.

Online education and holding tech platforms to account for dangerous content may be a better approach, they told MPs.

The parliamentary inquiry is investigating a wide range of social media issues, including the use of age verification and age assurance technology to protect children from harm.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged to introduce laws to restrict teen access to social media by the end of 2024, though he did not specify an age for the ban.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has promised to pass a social media ban for children under 16 years within 100 days of winning government.

But ReachOut youth advocate Sina Aghamofid queried why the age of 16 would be more appropriate than the current restriction of 13 years, and whether studies support the choice.

“The age of 16 seems like it’s just a number someone’s plucked out of the air,” he said.

“It sounds good, it’s a great age, and for parents it’s quite attractive, so I guess (that’s) why politically it’s a great age, but I haven’t really heard the reasons why we’ve come up with this age and what the evidence is.”

Social media provides a vital means of communications for some teens, ReachOut advocate Layla Wang said, telling the inquiry she used social networks to communicate with friends in her rural community as it did not have mobile phone coverage.

Preventing older teens from accessing online services would also fail to match with other responsibilities they were allowed to adopt, she said, such as driving a car or taking up employment.

“It would be difficult for me to believe that I would not have access to social media but I would be able to access a working job,” she said.

“When you’re 16, you have much more autonomy and you want more autonomy.”

The lack of detail about proposed social media age restrictions was also causing teens “a lot of anxiety”, William Cook told the committee.

Cook, who works with both ReachOut and the Youth eSafety Council, questioned whether children would need to submit their identification documents to social media platforms under the changes.

Holding social media giants to account for dangerous content and ensuring they were designed for safe use should be a priority for the Government, council advocate Arjun Kapoor said.

Any restrictions should impose separate rules for accessing social media networks such as Facebook and messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, he said.

“While we see the intent behind age-verification measures, we believe they should not be the only solution,” he said.

The inquiry is expected to deliver its final report in November.