In December of 2025 a new law began in Australia, it would require that all social media accounts with owners under the age of 16 would be banned.
The ban brought controversy but it was justified through government officials and campaigners who fought to protect teenagers from harmful algorithms and content.
Major companies like Meta, have agreed there is much more that needs to be done to protect children from social media, “We call on the Australian government to engage with industry constructively to find a better way forward, such as incentivising all of industry to raise the standard in providing safe, privacy-preserving, age appropriate experiences online, instead of blanket bans,”, Meta said in a blog update.
Under the law, major social media platforms face fines of up to 4 million dollars if they fail to take necessary steps to exempt the accounts of users under the age of 16. The ban applies to the following apps, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Twitch, Threads, Instagram, and X, it excludes facebook messenger and WhatsApp. To verify age, media platforms can request facial recognition, use a third party app to apply age estimation, or make estimates based on how long the account has been in existence.
Australia primarily introduced this ban to protect children from cyberbullying, violence, inappropiate content, and excessive screentime, but also to promote the development of healthy emotional, pyschological, and physical growth. The law is being carefully watched and considered by countries like Denmark, and the United Kingdom.
In the United States, without the federal level, states have discussed the need to address childrens use of social media. In Florida, a ban was signed by Governor Desantis to ban children under 14 from accessing content, but it was quickly overturned. Other states, including Texas, have attempted to require parental consent for minors, but without an official demand, it is hard to truly limit their access.
Social media has been a problem at the hand of parents, educators, and peers for many years, and the quote “It’s because of those phones” is thrown around quite often. Many users of media have no problem admitting that they are addicted to them, but there are also a handful who aren’t aware how much this addiction is truly affecting their health. Many people use social media as an escape from reality, but then while searching for relateable content, they are meanwhile comparing themselves to out of touch content, and subconsciously deteriorating their ego and mental health.
When asked if they think a social media ban on users under 16 would be effective in the United States, Morgan Bangert, a Paschal graduate said, “I think while social media can be so harmful, at this point it could be too late for many people, I’ve spoken to my friends before about how we wish we would have gotten social media later into our teen years because we felt it took away some of our innocence and childhood, I could see the ban being more effective if it were banned for kids under the age of 13, as I feel 16 is an appropiate age to have access to the media, and by 13, a lot of kids are just getting phones.”
In January of 2025, the world saw what banning Tik Tok did to the world, it struck chaos and outbreaks of crisis, and it was only banned for less than 24 hours.
Ultimately, banning social media has the potential to help future generations, in this day and age, there is so much already out there, and so many children already have had access for years, but a ban could prevent future teenagers from deteriorating their childhood so early on.
Australia will continue to implement this ban in hopes of forming more positive relationships between social media and its users. Officials in Australia have faced backlash from parents and independents, but as of now they don’t plan on backing down. It is too early to name any certain successes, but reports say some teens feel more free and productive with their time, according to BBC, and the ban is sparking global conversations about managing youth online access.
