Law · in effect 2025 Australia — World-First Social Media Ban for Under-16s

On 10 December 2025 Australia became the first country to enforce a nationwide under-16 social media ban. The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 requires platforms — Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, YouTube, Reddit, Threads, Twitch and Kick — to take reasonable steps to stop under-16s holding accounts, with fines up to ~A$49.5M for failure. Crucially, children and parents face no penalty; the obligation sits on the companies. The regulator reported 4.7 million under-16 accounts removed by mid-December. It's contested — critics warn of circumvention and pushing kids to unregulated spaces — but it marks the first time a government placed the legal burden of child safety squarely on the platforms.