While governments around the world continue to tackle the thorny issue of age verification for certain websites and platforms, Australia is taking a blunter approach. Starting today, the entire country will ban social media sites for all children younger than 16 years old.
The age-restricted apps include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Snapchat, YouTube, Reddit, Kick and Twitch. Younger teenagers will still have access to the popular gaming platform Discord, Messenger Kids, WhatsApp, Pinterest, Kids Helpline, Google Classroom and YouTube Kids. The ban also doesn't include AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, OpenAI's Sora or Google Gemini.
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Australia is the first country to launch this kind of age-restricted social media ban. Several other countries, including China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Turkey, Uganda, Saudi Arabia and India have full or partial social media bans, typically for political and security reasons.
Other countries, including Denmark, France, Norway and Malaysia, are considering similar bans to Australia's and will be monitoring the effectiveness of the Australian ban over the coming months.
Although many studies have been conducted worldwide about the psycho-emotional effects of social media usage on children, the ban was inspired by The Anxious Generation, a book by US psychologist Jonathan Haidt. Annabel West, the wife of South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, encouraged her husband to consider a ban after reading Haidt's book in 2024.
Tech companies must enforce Australia's ban, or face massive fines
Apps can use age-assurance technology, such as facial and voice analysis, to verify that a consumer is at least 16 years of age. Social media companies can also check how long an account has been active and assess age by language style and community memberships.
Kids being kids, they will find workarounds -- such as one 13-year-old who held up a photo of her mother's face to fool the age verification. The Australian government said it will prevent kids from using false identity documents, AI tools or VPNs to fake their age and location.
Tech companies will face a $33 million fine, as outlined in the legislation, if they fail to enforce the under-16 ban.
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