how will australia ban social media

Australia is not banning social media for everyone; it has brought in a world‑first law that effectively bans most social media accounts for people under 16 and forces platforms to build age‑verification and enforcement systems at scale. The “ban” works by putting legal duties and big fines on platforms, not by blocking apps on phones or cutting off the internet.

What exactly is being banned?

• The law stops under‑16s in Australia from having standard accounts on major social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, X, Reddit, Twitch, Kick and Threads.

• Platforms must also stop new under‑16 accounts from being created and remove existing ones belonging to users under 16 in Australia.

How will platforms enforce it?

• Platforms must show they took “reasonable steps” to verify age, which can include AI‑based age estimation from photos, behaviour‑based age profiling, ID checks, or linking to verified financial/parent accounts.

• If they fail to do this, they face very large penalties, with maximum fines of around 49–50 million Australian dollars per breach from the regulator.

What happens to existing teen accounts?

• Millions of Australian children and teens had their accounts deactivated or made inaccessible once the law took effect, with platforms expected to systematically identify and remove under‑16 accounts.

• Platforms also need to keep monitoring for under‑16s trying to re‑join, using their age‑assurance systems to flag and shut down accounts that look like they belong to younger users.

Can teens get around the ban?

• Workarounds such as lying about age, using parents’ details, or resorting to VPNs and alternative apps are widely discussed in forums and commentary, and experts expect some level of evasion.

• However, age‑profiling tools that infer likely age from behaviour, connections and usage patterns make it harder to maintain a false age over time, even if the signup information was faked.

Why is Australia doing this, and what comes next?

• The government frames the move as a child‑safety measure aimed at reducing exposure to addictive feeds, cyberbullying, sexual predation and harmful content, amid concerns over youth mental health.

• The ban is being closely watched by other countries, and there are ongoing debates, court challenges and lobbying over whether it infringes young people’s rights, whether it will actually work, and whether a more nuanced model (stricter controls rather than outright under‑16 bans) might emerge in future revisions.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.