Australia Becomes First Country To Ban Social Media For Under-16s In Major Online Safety Push

Australia has enacted one of the toughest online safety crackdowns to date, becoming the first country to bar children under 16 from accessing major social media platforms. The sweeping restrictions, which took effect at midnight Wednesday (13:00 GMT Tuesday), require the world’s biggest platforms to block young users or face hefty financial penalties.

Under the new law, ten of the largest platforms — Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Threads, X, Twitch and Kick — must verify that Australian users meet the minimum age requirement. Failure to do so could result in fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$33 million), as per The Hindu.

Tech firms have informed the government they plan to use a combination of selfie-based age estimation, behavior-based age inference, and more formal verification steps such as ID uploads or linked bank accounts.