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24-11-2025
CANBERRA: From 10 December, social media companies will have to take “reasonable steps” to ensure that under-16s in Australia cannot set up accounts on their platforms and that existing accounts are deactivated or removed.
The government says the ban, a world-first policy popular with many parents is aimed at reducing the “pressures and risks” children can be exposed to on social media, which come from “design features that encourage them to spend more time on screens, while also serving up content that can harm their health and wellbeing”.
A study commissioned by the government earlier this year said 96% of children aged 10-15 used social media and that seven out of 10 of them had been exposed to harmful content and behavior. This behavior ranged from misogynistic material to fight videos and content promoting eating disorders and suicide.
One in seven also reported experiencing grooming-type behavior from adults or older children, and more than half said they had been the victims of cyberbullying.
What platforms are affected?
The Australian government has so far named ten platforms to be included in the ban: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit and streaming platforms Kick and Twitch.
It is also under pressure to expand the ban to online gaming. Fearing they may be targeted, gaming platforms such as Roblox and Discord have recently introduced age checks on some features in an apparent bid to ward off inclusion in the ban.
The government has said it will continue to review the list of affected platforms, and will consider three main criteria when doing so.
These comprise whether the platform’s sole or “significant purpose” is to enable online social interaction between two or more users; whether it allows users to interact with some or all other users; and whether it allows users to post material.
YouTube Kids, Google Classroom and WhatsApp are not included as they were not deemed to have met those criteria. Children will also still be available to view most content on platforms like YouTube, which do not require an account.
Children and parents will not be punished for infringing the ban, it is social media companies who are charged with enforcing it, and they face fines of up to $49.5m (US$32m, £25m) for serious or repeated breaches.
The government says these companies must take “reasonable steps” to keep kids off their platforms, and use age assurance technologies without specifying which ones.
Several possibilities have been raised, including the use of government IDs, face or voice recognition and age inference. The latter of these uses online information other than a date of birth such as online behavior or interactions to estimate a person’s age. The government is encouraging platforms to use multiple different methods. It has also said platforms cannot rely on users declaring their own age, or on parents vouching for their children.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, has announced it will begin closing teen accounts from 4 December. Those mistakenly kicked off could use a government ID or provide a video selfie to verify their age, the company said.
The other affected platforms have not yet said how they will comply with the ban.
Without a clear idea of what methods companies will be using, it’s hard to say whether the social media ban will be effective but concerns have been raised that age assurance technologies may wrongly block some users while failing to spot others who are underage.
The government’s own report found that facial assessment technology, for example, is least reliable for the exact demographic it’s needed to target. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
