Australia kicks teens off social apps. The global policy test begins

Australia on Wednesday became the first country to formally bar users under the age of 16 from accessing major social media platforms, a move expected to be closely monitored by global tech companies and policymakers around the world.

Canberra’s ban, which came into effect from midnight local time, targets 10 major services, including Alphabet‘s YouTube, Meta’s Instagram, ByteDance’s TikTok, Reddit, Snapchat and Elon Musk’s X.

The controversial rule requires these platforms to take “reasonable steps” to prevent underage access, using age-verification methods such as inference from online activity, facial estimation via selfies, uploaded IDs, or linked bank details.

All targeted platforms had agreed to comply with the policy to some extent. Elon Musk’s X had been one of the last holdouts, but signaled on Wednesday that it would comply. 

The policy means millions of Australian children are expected to have lost access to their social accounts. 

However, the impact of the policy could be even wider, as it will set a benchmark for other governments considering teen social media bans, including Denmark, Norway, France, Spain, Malaysia and New Zealand. 

Ahead of the legislation’s passage last year, a YouGov survey found that 77% of Australians backed the under-16 social media ban. Still, the rollout has faced some resistance since becoming law.

Supporters of the bill have argued it safeguards children from social media-linked harms, including cyberbullying, mental health issues, and exposure to predators and pornography. 

Among those welcoming the official ban on Wednesday was Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist and author of The Anxious Generation, a 2024 best-selling book that linked a growing mental health crisis to smartphone and social media usage, especially for the young.

In a post on social media platform X, Haidt commended policymakers in Australia for “freeing kids under 16 from the social media trap.”

“There will surely be difficulties in the early months, but the world is rooting for your success, and many other nations will follow,” he added. 

On the other hand, opponents contend that the ban infringes on freedoms of expression and access to information, raises privacy concerns through invasive age verification, and represents excessive government intervention that undermines parental responsibility.

Those critics include groups like Amnesty Tech, which said in a statement Tuesday that the ban was an ineffective fix that ignored the rights and realities of younger generations.

“The most effective way to protect children and young people online is by protecting all social media users through better regulation, stronger data protection laws and better platform design,” said Amnesty Tech Programme Director Damini Satija.

Meanwhile, David Inserra, a fellow for free expression and technology at the Cato Institute, warned in a blog post that children would evade the new policy by shifting to new platforms, private apps like Telegram, or VPNs, driving them to “more isolated communities and platforms with fewer protections” where monitoring is harder.

Tech companies like Google have also warned that the policy could be extremely difficult to enforce, while government-commissioned reports have pointed to inaccuracies in age-verification technology, such as selfie-based age-guessing software. 

Indeed, on Wednesday, local reports in Australia indicated that many children had already bypassed the ban, with age-assurance tools misclassifying users, and workarounds such as VPNs proving effective.

However, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had attempted to preempt these issues, acknowledging in an opinion piece on Sunday that the system would not work flawlessly from the start, likening it to liquor laws.

“The fact that teenagers occasionally find a way to have a drink doesn’t diminish the value of having a clear national standard,” he added.

Experts told CNBC that the rollout is expected to continue to face challenges and that regulators would need to take a trial-and-error approach. 

“There’s a fair amount of teething problems around it. Many young people have been posting on TikTok that they successfully evaded the age limitations and that’s to be expected,” said Terry Flew, a professor of digital communication and culture at the University of Sydney. 

“You were never going to get 100% disappearance of every person under the age of 16 from every one of the designated platforms on day one,” he added.

Experts told CNBC that the policy rollout in Australia will be closely watched by tech firms and lawmakers worldwide, as other countries consider their own moves to ban or restrict teen social media usage. 

“Governments are responding to how public expectations have changed about the internet and social media, and the companies have not been particularly responsive to moral suasion,” said Flew. 

“We see similar pressures are emerging, particularly, but not exclusively in Europe,” he added.  

The European Parliament passed a non-binding resolution in November advocating a minimum age of 16 for social media access, allowing parental consent for 13 to 15-year-olds. 

The bloc has also proposed banning addictive features such as infinite scrolling and auto-play for minors, which could lead to EU-wide enforcement against non-compliant platforms.

Outside Europe, Malaysia and New Zealand have also been advancing proposals to ban social media for children under 16.

However, laws elsewhere are expected to differ from Australia’s, whether that be regarding age restrictions or age verification processes. 

“My hope is that countries that are looking at implementing similar policies will monitor for what doesn’t work in Australia and learn from our mistakes,” said Tama Leaver, professor at the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University and a Chief Investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child.

“I think platforms and tech companies are also starting to realize that if they don’t want age-gating policies everywhere, they’re going to have to do much better at providing safer, appropriate experiences for young users.”