GoKawiilAustralia's under-16 social media ban forces platforms to verify user age
Governments are increasingly stepping in to curb youth social media use after years of relying on parents, schools and platform self-regulation, which proved insufficient. Australia became the first country to enact a nationwide ban on social media accounts for children under 16, covering ten platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube, while exempting messaging and gaming services like WhatsApp, Discord and Roblox. The law requires platforms to take reasonable steps to verify age and prevent account creation, though it does not restrict viewing public content without logging in.