Australia Passes Social Media Ban for Children Under 16

Australia has passed the world’s first ban on social media use by children under 16 years old, in a strict law that could potentially hurt platforms like Elon Musk’s X, ByteDance’s TikTok, Snap’s (SNAP) Snapchat, and Meta Platforms’ (META) Facebook and Instagram.

Social media platforms will have to take the responsibility of ensuring children don’t have accounts, with those guilty of “systemic breaches” facing fines of up to $49.5 million Australian dollars ($32.2 million), the government said. Parents and their kids won’t face fines.

Australian PM Says Social Media Does ‘Social Harm’

“Social media is doing social harm to our kids. We’ve called time on it,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement. “We want our kids to have a childhood and parents to know we have their backs.”

The ban will take at least 12 months to come into effect. Australian Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland said the government knows “these laws are novel, but to do nothing is simply not an option.”

X, TikTok, Snap, and Meta didn’t immediately respond to Investopedia’s requests for comment.

Musk, who has close ties to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, last week criticized Austarlia’s proposed bill, calling it “a backdoor way to control access to the Internet by all Australians.”