It’s official: Australia passes social media ban for kids under 16

Taking aim at the dangers social media poses for kids, Australia has passed legislation that would ban children younger than 16 from accessing platforms like TikTok (BDNCE), Facebook and Instagram (NASDAQ:META), Snapchat (NYSE:SNAP), Reddit (NYSE:RDDT) and X.

The law will make platforms responsible for not taking “reasonable steps” in preventing kids from holding social media accounts. Any “systematic failures” can result in fines of up to A$49.5M ($32.5M), and exemptions would not be granted for pre-existing accounts or cases of parental consent.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the social media ban “world leading,” though many platforms took issue with the speed the legislation went through parliament, calling it “rushed” or one that could lead kids to “darker corners of the internet where no community guidelines, safety tools, or protections exist.”

How will it work? The Australian government is trialing an age verification system to determine how best to enforce the social media ban, along with a “digital duty of care” by providers. Under consideration are biometrics and government identification, as well as other technologies like age inference and estimation. Social media companies will have one year to determine how to implement the ban before facing any penalties.

Exceptions: Some areas won’t fall under the new restrictions, like online gaming platforms and standalone messaging services like WhatsApp and Messenger (META). The ban also excludes YouTube (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL), which is widely used in schools and has already rolled out safeguards for children.

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