Australia’s social media ban on under-16 users has gone into effect, leaving millions of children and teens without access to their accounts. Several teens were reportedly “distressed” and also said it was a “pretty bad idea” as they adjusted to life without social media, including Snapchat, X and Instagram, among 10 other platforms.
Social media platforms that fail to comply face fines of up to $33 million, according to a Reuters report.
Which apps are covered by “under 16 social media ban”?
As of midnight Tuesday, December 10 (1300 GMT), 10 of the biggest platforms have been ordered to block children or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($33 million):
1. TikTok
Parents of children affected by Australia’s new under-16 social media ban have expressed mixed reactions, with some welcoming the move and others warning it risks isolating teenagers and driving them to break the rules.
Many of the estimated million children affected by the legislation also posted farewell messages on social media.
‘Concerns’, ‘how VPNs work’ – ban prompts mixed reactions
One parent told the Guardian their 15-year-old daughter was “very distressed” because “all her 14-15-year-old friends were verified as 18 using Snapchat”. Because she was identified as under 16, they feared “her friends will continue to use Snapchat to make calls and organize social events and she will be left out”.
One teenager affected by the ban told Sky News “it was a pretty bad idea”, while another said his friends “found ways around the restrictions”.
Another parent reportedly said the restrictions forced him to teach his child how to break the law. “I showed her how VPNs work and other methods to bypass age restrictions,” he said. He said he had to set up an adult YouTube account for her daughter and helped her bypass TikTok’s age rating, the Guardian report mentioned.
Which platforms are not banned?
The following platforms have been excluded from the blacklist:
How is age verification done?
In the weeks leading up to the ban, the teenagers reportedly tried to prepare – completing age checks, exchanging phone numbers and preparing to deactivate their social media accounts.
Kieran Donovan, Australian managing director and co-founder of age verification service k-ID, said his platform has performed hundreds of thousands of age checks in the past few weeks.
TikTok previously said in a statement that it will take a “multi-layered approach” that “combines technology and human moderation” to detect and remove the accounts of teens who gave an incorrect date of birth when they originally logged into the app. Snapchat said it will use the account’s behavioral signals and the date of birth people have provided on the account to identify people believed to be under 16.
