“By banning social media for under 16, we're giving children a childhood,” says Australian PM Albanese

Australia has officially become the first country in the world to ban social media for children under 16, a sweeping move Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says is about “giving kids a childhood” and putting tech giants on notice

Announcing the rollout on Wednesday, Albanese said young Australians are “starting their day a little differently — without social media,” describing it as a long-awaited step toward restoring peace of mind for parents. “Algorithms, endless feeds, pressures no generation before has had to deal with,” he said. “Today’s change is about keeping your children safe—and placing responsibility where it belongs: on social media giants, not on parents.”

The Prime Minister called it a turning point in Australia’s fight against online harms. “This is the day when Australian families are taking back power from big tech companies,” he said in a video message. “They’re asserting the right of kids to be kids.”

Under the new law—the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024, passed on November 28—anyone under 16 is now barred from creating or maintaining accounts on major platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, X, and Facebook. Parents can no longer override this rule with consent.

Importantly, the burden doesn’t fall on children or families. It falls on tech companies. Platforms that fail to block underage users face fines of up to $50 million, a sign that Australia expects compliance, not cooperation.

UNICEF Australia backed the decision, calling the ban essential to protecting children from the escalating risks of cyberbullying, harmful content, online predators, and the mental-health damage linked to early social media exposure. “The risks outweigh the positives,” UNICEF said, noting that kids’ apps such as Messenger Kids, WhatsApp, Google Classroom, Kids Helpline and YouTube Kids will remain unaffected.

With this move, Australia has positioned itself as a global test case — the first nation to confront social media’s influence on children not with warnings or guidelines, but with law.