Australia Moves to Protect Teenagers’ Mental Health with Under-16 Social Media Ban

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA — Australia is set to implement a \”world-leading\” social media ban on 10 December, prohibiting major platforms from hosting accounts for children under the age of 16. The sweeping legislation, championed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to allow \”kids be kids,\” aims to protect developing minds from the significant pressures and risks of the online world.

The ban, which affects platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube, places the responsibility squarely on tech companies, which face A$50 million fines if they fail to take reasonable preventative steps.

In preparation, Meta has already begun the process of notifying and deactivating accounts believed to belong to 13-to-15-year-olds, a group estimated at over 500,000 users across Facebook and Instagram.

Antigone Davis, Meta’s global head of safety, acknowledged the difficulty of the task, noting that compliance will be an \”ongoing and multi-layered process.\” The company is allowing users to challenge the deactivation by using either video selfies for facial age scans or providing government ID—methods deemed necessary because simple self-declaration has proven ineffective.

The ban applies to a specific list of platforms published by the e-Safety Commissioner, while services like Discord, WhatsApp, and YouTube Kids are currently exempt.

In a move seemingly intended to avoid being captured by future restrictions, gaming platform Roblox announced its own preemptive measure: starting in December (in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands), children under 16 will be unable to chat with adult strangers, enforced through mandatory age checks for chat features.

The new law represents a strong governmental stance on the urgent need to address the mental health impact of social media on young Australians.