Rabat – Australia’s social media ban officially came into effect, banning social media users under the age of 16. Starting at midnight, several platforms were blocked, including Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch, and TikTok. Any social media firm that fails to comply will face a fine of up to  $49.5 million AUD, or USD $32.2 million. 

The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the decision was necessary to protect children’s mental health by preventing them from being exposed to harmful content online. Albanese said that “This will make an enormous difference. It is one of the biggest social and cultural changes that our nation has faced.” He advised children, saying that in place of social media they should “start a new sport, new instrument, or read that book that has been sitting there for some time on your shelf.”

The online safety amendment triggered many reactions between supporters and critics. On one hand, mental health and child safety advocates, and some parents welcomed the ban. A government poll showed that 77% of Australians support the ban, arguing that this policy will protect children from social media addiction, cyberbullying, and harmful content as well as reduce the heavy exposure of youth to online content that negatively affects their brains and behaviors. 

On the other hand, most teens under the age of 16 and freedom-of-expression advocates claim that banning teens from using these platforms is an infringement on individual voices, and violates their right of expressing themselves online and limiting their access to news and information. They also shared that this decision will contribute to the isolation of youth from the online communities and foster the marginalization of some groups. 

Many platforms added identification steps as part of the process for account verification as well as identifying under-16 teen users in order to deactivate their accounts. 

Many teens were able to deceive platforms, and were categorized as “eligible” for social media use by providing other people’s information, like their parents, in order to access these platforms. 

The Australian prime minister said in this regard that “From the beginning, we’ve acknowledged this process won’t be 100% perfect. But the message this law sends will be 100% clear.” 

Regardless of the imperfect operation of this policy, about 200,000 accounts were deactivated by Wednesday on TikTok alone. More are expected to be blocked in the next few days.

The ban is being watched by other countries which are considering similar measures with different age restriction and safety standards like Britain, France, Malaysia, Norway, and others.