Australia passes world-first law banning under-16s from social media

By Henry Moore

Australia will ban under-16s from using social media in a world-first law designed to protect children online.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

The Australian Senate approved the social media ban, which will not come into effect for at least 12 months, on Thursday in a 34 to 19 vote.

The law will make platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, Reddit, X and Instagram liable for fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (£25 million) for systemic failures to prevent children younger than 16 from holding accounts.

The House of Representatives had previously overwhelmingly approved the ban, in a 102 to 13 vote on Wednesday.

Social media giants will be given one year to make the required changes or face massive fines for failing to protect children.

"This is a global problem and we want young Australians essentially to have a childhood," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said last week.

"We want parents to have peace of mind.

"We all know technology moves fast and some people will try to find ways around these new laws but that is not a reason to ignore the responsibility that we have," he added.

While specific social media platforms are not specified in the legislation, it is expected the country’s eSafety Commissioner will give more details on the ban in the coming months.

Gaming platforms are not included in the ban, with messaging sites and services that don’t require an account to use, like YouTube, also likely to avoid being blocked.

Predictably, tech giants have hit out at the ban, branding it ineffective and “blunt.”

X questioned the "lawfulness" of the bill while TikTok declared the legislation so "broad and unclear" that "almost every online service could fall within [it]".

This is not the first law banning children from social media to be proposed in recent years, but it does have the highest age limit.

Norway recently committed to passing a similar law, with the UK government also saying a ban is “on the table” amid growing global concerns over the effect of social media on children’s mental health.