Australia became the first country in the world to ban social media for children under 16, with the new rule taking effect at midnight on Wednesday (1300 GMT). The law blocks minors from using major platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
Under the new regulations, ten major tech platforms must stop children from accessing their services or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($33 million). The move has drawn criticism from big technology companies and free speech groups, but many parents and child safety advocates have welcomed it, according to Reuters.
Other countries are watching Australia’s decision closely as global concern grows about how social media affects children’s health and safety.
“While Australia is the first to adopt such restrictions, it is unlikely to be the last,” Tama Leaver, a professor of internet studies at Curtin University, said.
“Governments around the world are watching how the power of Big Tech was successfully taken on. The social media ban in Australia … is very much the canary in the coal mine.”
The rollout closes out a year of speculation about whether a country can block children from using technology that is built into modern life.
And it begins a live experiment that will be studied globally by lawmakers who want to intervene directly because they are frustrated by what they say is a tech industry that has been too slow to implement effective harm-minimisation efforts.
Governments from Denmark to Malaysia – and even some states in the U.S., where platforms are rolling back trust and safety features – say they plan similar steps, four years after a leak of internal Meta documents showed the company knew its products contributed to body image problems and suicidal thoughts among teenagers while publicly denying the link existed.
Though the ban covers 10 platforms initially, the government has said the list will change as new products appear and young users switch to alternatives.
Of the initial 10, all but Elon Musk’s X have said they will comply using age inference – guessing a person’s age from their online activity – or age estimation, which is usually based on a selfie. They might also check with uploaded identification documents or linked bank account details.
For the social media businesses, the implementation marks a new era of structural stagnation as user numbers flatline and time spent on platforms shrinks, studies show.
Platforms say they don’t make much money showing advertisements to under-16s, but they add that the ban interrupts a pipeline of future users. Just before the ban took effect, 86% of Australians aged 8 to 15 used social media, the government said.
With inputs from Reuters
Shivam Verma is a journalist with over three years of experience in digital newsrooms. He currently works at NewsX, having previously worked for Firstpost and DNA India. A postgraduate diploma holder in Integrated Journalism from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, Shivam focuses on international affairs, diplomacy, defence, and politics. Beyond the newsroom, he is passionate about football—both playing and watching—and enjoys travelling to explore new places and cuisines.
