From midnight (1300 GMT), ten major platforms must comply or face fines of up to USD 49.5 million. While the law has drawn sharp criticism from tech companies and free speech advocates, it has been praised by parents and child welfare groups
The rollout ends months of speculation about whether a country can limit children’s access to technology that has become integral to modern life. Representational Pic
Australia is poised to become the first country to implement a minimum age for social media use on Wednesday, according to the reports. Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube will be required to block over a million accounts of users under 16, marking the start of a wave of global regulation.
From midnight (1300 GMT), ten major platforms must comply or face fines of up to USD 49.5 million. While the law has drawn sharp criticism from tech companies and free speech advocates, it has been praised by parents and child welfare groups.
The rollout ends months of speculation about whether a country can limit children’s access to technology that has become integral to modern life. It also begins a live experiment closely watched by global lawmakers frustrated with what they see as Big Tech’s slow adoption of effective harm-minimisation measures, as per the reports.
Governments from Denmark to Malaysia, and even some U.S. states, have announced similar plans, following revelations that Meta had internally acknowledged its products could harm teenagers’ mental health while publicly denying it.
“While Australia is the first to adopt such restrictions, it is unlikely to be the last,” said Tama Leaver, professor of internet studies at Curtin University. “The social media ban in Australia is very much the canary in the coal mine.”
The British government, which recently began enforcing under-18 restrictions on pornographic websites, said it is “closely monitoring Australia’s approach to age restrictions.”
The eSafety Commissioner, tasked with enforcing the ban, has commissioned Stanford University and 11 other academics to study the policy’s impact on thousands of young Australians over at least two years.
Initially covering ten platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, the list may expand as new apps emerge or young users migrate to alternatives. Most platforms have pledged to comply using age inference techniques, such as analysing online activity, selfies, identification documents, or linked bank accounts. Elon Musk’s X remains the notable holdout, calling the ban a “backdoor way to control access to the internet.” A High Court challenge is pending, according to the reports.
For social media businesses, the ban signals a new era of structural stagnation, as user growth and engagement decline. Platforms argue they earn little from advertising to under-16s, but the ban disrupts a pipeline of future users. Before implementation, 86 per cent of Australians aged 8–15 were active on social media.
“The days of social media as a platform for unbridled self-expression are coming to an end,” said Terry Flew, co-director of the University of Sydney’s Centre for AI, Trust, and Governance. While platforms had earlier introduced minimum age limits and privacy features, Flew says, “Had these structures existed during the social media boom, this debate might never have happened.”
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