Social media ban for kids beneath 16 begins in Australia : NPR

MELBOURNE, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed a world-first social media ban for kids youthful than 16 that took impact Wednesday as households taking again energy from tech giants however warned the implementation could be tough.

Dad and mom reported distraught kids discovering they’d been shut out of platforms because the landmark regulation took impact. Some younger kids reported fooling the platforms’ age estimation expertise by drawing on facial hair. Dad and mom and older siblings are additionally anticipated to assist some kids circumvent the restrictions.

“That is the day when Australian households are taking again energy from these massive tech firms and so they’re asserting the appropriate of youngsters to be youngsters and for folks to have higher peace of thoughts,” Albanese informed the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“This reform will change lives. For Australian youngsters … permitting them to simply have their childhood. For Australian mother and father, enabling them to have higher peace of thoughts. But additionally for the worldwide group, who’re Australia and saying: properly, if Australia can do it, why cannot we?” Albanese later informed a Sydney gathering of reform supporters, together with mother and father who blame social media for a kid’s suicide.

Fb, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube and Twitch face fines of as much as 49.5 million Australian {dollars} ($32.9 million) from Wednesday in the event that they fail to take affordable steps to take away the accounts of Australian kids youthful than 16.

Australia to report by Christmas if social media ban is working

The ban might be enforced by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant. She stated the platforms already had the expertise and private information about their customers to implement the age restriction with precision.

She would ship the ten focused platforms on Thursday notices demanding info on how the age restriction was being carried out and what number of accounts had been closed.

“We’ll present info to the general public earlier than Christmas on how these age restrictions are being carried out and whether or not preliminarily we see them working,” Inman Grant stated.

“The responses to those notices will type the baseline towards which we are going to measure compliance,” she added.

Communications Minister Anika Wells stated the age-restricted platforms “might not agree with the regulation and that is their proper — we do not count on 100% common help,” however that every one had undertaken to adjust to the Australian regulation. She stated greater than 200,000 TikTok accounts in Australia had already been deactivated by Wednesday.

Wells additionally warned younger kids who had to this point evaded detection that they might finally be caught. A toddler who used a digital non-public community to look like in Norway could be caught out in the event that they had been routinely posting photographs of Australian seashores, Wells stated.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reacts as he cooks on a barbecue at an occasion to mark the start of the social media ban for kids beneath 16 years of age, at Kirribilli Home, in Sydney, Australia, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025.

Mick Tsikas/AP

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Mick Tsikas/AP

“Simply because they could have averted it (detection) as we speak does not imply they are going to have the ability to keep away from it in per week’s time or a month’s time as a result of social media platforms have to return and routinely verify under-16 accounts,” Wells stated.

“These social media platforms have a lot information on us as a result of we select to offer it to them as a result of we like social media and since you’ve had your older brother scan their face for you as we speak, which has purchased you a little bit of time, does not imply that these accounts aren’t going to see you speaking to different 14-year-olds tonight concerning the under-16 soccer carnival on weekend, about your upcoming college holidays and what your 12 months 10 trainer is subsequent 12 months,” she added.

Albanese stated the implementation could be tough and “will not be excellent.”

“That is about, importantly, pushing again towards massive tech, saying that social media firms have a social duty,” he stated.

Father of sextortion rip-off sufferer says social media ban is a begin

Wayne Holdsworth, who grew to become an age restriction advocate as a result of his son Mac took his personal life after falling sufferer to a web based sextortion rip-off, described the brand new regulation as a begin. Youngsters should now be educated about on-line risks earlier than they flip 16.

“Our children that we have misplaced have not died in useless as a result of as we speak they will be trying down very pleased with the work that we have all executed,” Holdsworth informed the Sydney gathering.

Flossie Brodribb, a 12-year-old advocate for a social media ban for younger kids, informed the gathering she hoped different international locations would observe Australia’s lead.

“This ban is daring and courageous and I imagine it’ll assist youngsters like me to develop up more healthy, safer, kinder and extra related to the true world,” Flossie stated.

Simone Clements stated the social media ban would come at a monetary price to her 15-year-old twins Carlee and Hayden Clements. Carlee is an actor, mannequin, dancer, singer and influencer. Her brother is an actor and mannequin.

“I do know that our state of affairs is exclusive to our household as a result of the youngsters are within the leisure trade and social media goes hand-in-hand with the leisure trade. Now we have used social media in essentially the most optimistic means. And it is a platform for them to mainly present their portfolio, and … that is an revenue stream for the kids,” the mom informed ABC.

Clements stated the largest affect on her kids could be the lack of their younger followers on-line.