ICYMI, Australia has officially become the first country in the world to ban social media use for children under 16, in a landmark move that will see young users blocked from platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
Under the new law, which came into effect at midnight on Wednesday, major social media companies have been ordered to prevent children from accessing their services or face fines of up to $49.5 million.
While the ruling has drawn criticism from tech giants and free speech advocates, it has been widely welcomed by parents, educators and child safety groups.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the moment as a “proud day” for Australian families, positioning the ban as a necessary response to online harms that have rapidly outpaced existing safeguards.
Speaking at a press conference, he said the reform would bring about one of the most significant social shifts the country has seen in decades, with global implications.
A government-commissioned study released earlier this year found that 96 per cent of children aged 10 to 15 were active on social media, with seven in 10 exposed to harmful content. This ranged from misogynistic and violent material to posts promoting eating disorders and suicide.
One in seven children also reported experiencing grooming-style behaviour from adults or older peers, while more than half said they had been subjected to cyberbullying.
Ahead, everything you need to know about Australia’s social media ban.
The Australian Government passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill on November 28, 2024, introducing a mandatory minimum age of 16 for accounts on designated social media platforms.
The law came into force today, 10 December 2025, and notably removes the option for parental consent, meaning children under 16 will not be permitted to hold accounts regardless of parental approval.
What Time Does The Social Media Ban Start
Australia’s social media ban for children under 16 came into effect at midnight local time, on December 10.
Yes, from 10 December 2025, anyone under 16 in Australia won’t be able to keep or make an account on YouTube. The law does not penalise young people or their families. Instead, it places responsibility on social media companies, which must prevent under-16s from holding accounts or face fines of up to around $50 million.
Roblox, an online gaming platform, is currently excluded from the ban. However, the government has made it clear that the current list of platforms included in the social media ban is subject to change, with the eSafety Commissioner noting she will not “totally turn off the spigot.”
“We’ve been talking to the likes of Yubo, which is a French site. We expected there will be some migration, and some of these will become age-restricted social media platforms,” she added.
Communications Minister Anika Wells has also described the policy as a “whack-a-mole situation,” acknowledging that new platforms and apps will inevitably continue to emerge for teens to use.
The ban will apply to major platforms including YouTube, X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Twitch, Threads and Kick. The tech companies behind these services could face fines of up to $50 million if they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent under-16s from holding accounts.
Australia’s Digital ID is optional in 2025, however it will soon be hard to avoid. From age verification to business logins, Digital ID is increasingly the backstage pass to everyday digital life.
Multiple education and messaging-based apps have been excluded from the ban, including:
Roblox
Pinterest
WhatsApp
Lemon8
LEGO Play
Google Classroom
Messenger
LinkedIn
YouTube Kids
Discord
To comply with the new law, platforms are verifying users’ ages using official ID or AI tools that estimate age via facial scanning. A government-funded trial last year convinced officials this could be done without compromising privacy, but the technology has raised concerns elsewhere.
In the UK, teens reportedly used video game character images to bypass age checks, while critics warn that biometric verification poses privacy risks for all users. In Australia, platforms will be required to delete users’ data immediately after age verification.
