In a first for the world, Australia bans minors under 16 from using social media.

Following a heated national debate, Australia on Thursday enacted a social media ban for minors under the age of sixteen, establishing a standard for countries worldwide with some of the strictest laws aimed at Big Tech.

TikTok, Instagram, Facebook owner Meta, and other digital firms are required by legislation to prevent minors from logging in or risk fines of up to A$49.5 million (USD32 million). The ban will go into effect in a year, and a trial of enforcement strategies will begin in January.

Australia's Social Media Minimum Age bill positions the country as a model for other countries that have already enacted or have stated plans to enact age restrictions on social media due to worries about the impact these platforms have on youth mental health.

While several US states and France have enacted legislation restricting children' access without parental consent, the Australian restriction is absolute. Florida's complete prohibition on children under 14 is being contested in court on the grounds of free speech.

The law's passage following a long last day of Australia's parliamentary year represents a political victory for center-left Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who faces a 2025 election in the face of declining polling. According to recent polls, 77% of people supported the prohibition, despite resistance from some child rights organizations and privacy advocates.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, spearheaded a campaign called "Let Them Be Kids" to support the ban, following a parliamentary investigation through 2024 that heard testimony from parents of children who had self-harmed as a result of bullying on social media.

However, Elon Musk, the owner of X and a prominent player in President-elect Donald Trump's administration, stated in a post this month that the ban appeared to be a "backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians," which might strain Australia's ties with the US, a crucial ally.

Additionally, it intensifies the already-existing hostility between Australia and tech giants that are primarily based in the US. In addition to being the first nation to require social media companies to pay media outlets royalties for sharing their content, Australia also intends to sanction them for their failure to stop scams.

The government has stated that the ban will impact Meta, TikTok, and X. However, representatives of these companies were not immediately accessible for comment.

The businesses had argued that the legislation should be delayed until after the age verification experiment. One of these corporations was Alphabet's Google, whose subsidiary YouTube is excluded due to its widespread use in schools.

"It's cart before horse," said Sunita Bose, managing director of Digital Industry Group, which has most social media companies as members.

"We have the bill but we don't have guidance from the Australian government around what are the right methods that a whole host of services subject to this law will need to employ," Bose added, speaking to Reuters.

In Short

• Australia becomes first country to ban social media for any age-group
• Social media giants to stop minors from logging in or face $32 million fine
• Some groups say vulnerable people may lose contact with support networks.  

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