Australia Bans Social Media For Kids Under 16

Starting on December 10, it will be illegal for Australian kids under the age of 16 to have social media accounts — and the onus to uphold those laws will fall to tech companies like Meta and X. This will be the first overarching ban of social media for kids in any country in which parental consent cannot override the law.

The government has stated that the ban is to protect children’s wellbeing, mental health, and physical safety, citing that social media companies have not done enough to keep kids safe on their sites.

The ban includes all major social media sites, including:

• TikTok
• SnapChat
• Facebook
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Reddit
• Threads
• X
• Twitch
• Kick

Note that some semi-social areas of the internet, like gaming platforms and AI chatbots are not included in the ban.

Children who already have social media accounts are being asked to download any media that they want to keep before losing access to their accounts later this month. And tech companies have already been working on how they will abide by the new social media laws via avenues like ID checks and facial age estimation software. Companies who do not take “reasonable” steps to keep kids off their platforms will face up to $32 million in fines.

Will the social media ban work? Experts agree that there’s no way to know at this point. Kids are notorious for finding ways around not being allowed in certain corners of the internet. And it’s not in the best interests of tech companies to keep kids away from their services.

But even if it’s not perfect, or even if there are some issues along the way, Australian lawmakers seem determined to do something about the well-documented negative affects of social media on young kids.

“We will not be intimidated by legal challenges. We will not be intimidated by Big Tech. On behalf of Australian parents, we stand firm,” Communications Minister Anika Wells told Parliament according to ABC News.

The Australian government is well-known for taking drastic measures to keep their population of kids safe. In 1996, after the Port Arthur massacre left 35 people dead and 26 wounded, the country came together to almost immediately pass the National Firearms Agreement, which greatly tightened gun laws and began a buy-back program for weapons already in the population. Since then, gun violence has gone down significantly — and the country does not struggle with school shootings like the United Sates does.

Whatever happens as the Australian ban begins later this month, one thing is for sure: American parents are going to be watching closely.

Malaysia plans to implement a ban next year.