Social media ban for children under 16 starts in Australia

MELBOURNE, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed a world-first ban on social media for children under 16, which came into force on Wednesday as families take back power from tech giants, but warned implementation would be difficult.

Many children posted goodbye messages, while parents reported their children were distraught to discover they had been banned from platforms when the landmark law took effect. Some young children reported fooling the platforms’ age estimation technology by drawing on facial hair. Parents and older siblings should also help some children get around the restrictions.

“This is the day that Australian families take back the power from these big tech companies and assert the right of children to be children and for parents to have peace of mind,” Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“This reform will change lives. For Australian children… allowing them to experience their childhood. For Australian parents, allowing them to have greater peace of mind. But also for the global community, which looks at Australia and says: well, if Australia can do it, why can’t we?” Albanese later told a gathering of reform supporters at his official Sydney residence, including parents who blame social media for a child’s suicide.

Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok,

The ban will be enforced by Australia’s Electronic Security Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant. She said the platforms already had the technology and personal data about their users to enforce the age restriction accurately.

It will send notices to the ten targeted platforms on Thursday demanding information on how the age restriction is implemented and the number of accounts closed.

“We will provide information to the public before Christmas on how these age restrictions are being implemented and whether we preliminarily see them working,” Inman Grant said.

“The responses to these notices will form the benchmark against which we measure compliance,” she added.

Communications Minister Anika Wells said age-restricted platforms “may not agree with the law and that’s their right – we don’t expect 100 per cent universal support”, but that all had committed to complying with Australian law. She said more than 200,000 TikTok accounts in Australia had already been deactivated as of Wednesday.

Wells also warned young children who had thus far escaped detection that they would eventually be caught. A child who used a virtual private network to pretend to be in Norway would be surprised if he regularly posted images of Australian beaches, Wells said.

“Just because they could have avoided detection today doesn’t mean they can avoid it in a week or a month, because social media platforms need to go back and regularly check under-16 accounts,” Wells said.

“These social media platforms have so much data on us because we choose to give it to them because we love social media and because your older brother scanned his face for you today, saving you a bit of time, doesn’t mean these accounts won’t see you talking to other 14 year olds tonight about the weekend under 16 football carnival, your next school holiday and what your year 10 teacher will be next year,” she added.

Albanese said implementation would be difficult and “won’t be perfect.”

“It’s all about standing up to big tech, saying that social media companies have a social responsibility,” he said.

Wayne Holdsworth, who became an advocate for the age restriction because his son Mac committed suicide after falling victim to an online sextortion scam, described the new law as a start. Children must now be informed of the dangers online before the age of 16.

“Our children that we lost did not die in vain because today they will be very proud of the work that we have all done,” Holdsworth said at the Sydney rally.

Flossie Brodribb, a 12-year-old campaigner for a ban on social media for young children, told the assembly she hoped other countries would follow Australia’s lead.

“This ban is bold and courageous and I believe it will help children like me grow up healthier, safer, kinder and more connected to the real world,” Flossie said.

Simone Clements said the social media ban would come at a financial cost to her 15-year-old twins Carlee and Hayden Clements. Carlee is an actress, model, dancer, singer and influencer. Her brother is an actor and model.

“I know our situation is unique to our family because the kids work in the entertainment industry and social media goes hand in hand with the entertainment industry. We’ve used social media in the most positive way. And it’s a platform for them to show off their portfolio, and… it’s a source of income for the kids,” the mother said.

Australian Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind said platforms could potentially ask all account holders across the country to prove they are 16 or older.

The platforms’ age verification options included requesting copies of identification documents, using a third party to apply age estimation technology to analyze an account holder’s face, or making inferences from already available data, such as how long an account has been held, Kind said.

“The legislation has some pretty strong privacy protections. They require social media platforms to delete any data that they collect for age assurance purposes under this program and not use it for secondary purposes without the consent of individuals. And that’s a very strong and important safeguard,” Kind said.

The government said asking all account holders to verify their age would not be a reasonable step, given that the platforms already held enough personal data on most people to carry out this task.

Platforms also cannot require users to provide government-issued ID.