Australia has already banned social media for under-16s – here is what the United Kingdom can be told from the revel in
As the United Kingdom prepares to introduce an “Australia plus” ban on social media for under-16s, many courses will also be realized from Australia’s experiment. Many of us might suppose Australia’s ban is a good fortune, with virtually 5 million social media accounts disabled, deleted or limited. However truth could not be farther from the reality.
Australian legislation calls for social media platforms, similar to Instagram, TikTok and Fb, to take “reasonable steps” to forestall kids below 16 from having social media accounts. Which means kids can nonetheless watch social media content material (on YouTube, for instance) in a internet browser, with no need an account.
This law applies to all platforms whose “sole or important purpose” is to allow “online social interaction”, permitting other folks to attach or have interaction with others and put up subject material at the platform. Alternatively, the law excludes gaming platforms, messaging apps, and platforms whose “sole or primary purpose” is tutorial or health-related. The federal government supplies self-assessment steering for platforms to spot whether or not they must limit get right of entry to.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner equipped an “initial list” of ten platforms deemed “likely” to be topic to the law. Those incorporated Fb, Snapchat, Instagram, X and Twitch. Reddit additionally were given concerned and instantly introduced a criminal problem, which has but to be resolved.
The eSafety Commissioner additionally named ten platforms as “unlikely” to be lined by way of the law (similar to Roblox, YouTube Youngsters and Discord). Alternatively, such exclusions nonetheless elevate considerations about attainable damage. In February, the eSafety Commissioner put Roblox “on notice” following a number of global studies of harassment, together with a person being jailed for the crime in the UK.
Used to be the implementation of the ban a success?
Since its release on December 10, 2025, Australian media has been stuffed with tales of kids staying on social media platforms. There was once an important building up in downloads from unconventional platforms, similar to Rednote, Yope and Lemon8.
Youngsters reported making the most of the well known “loophole” within the law by way of switching their conversations to gaming and messaging apps, or by way of the use of VPNs to get right of entry to present accounts. Many kids below 16 who had been to begin with locked out in their accounts additionally reported that they had been in a position to reactivate their accounts or create new accounts instantly.
Youngsters reported that they had been nonetheless in a position to get right of entry to social media. Irene Miller/Shutterstock
There have been additionally many studies of under-16s (and their oldsters) being shocked that they weren’t requested to verify their age in any respect. As a result of some corporations use behavior-based age tracking applied sciences, with an age estimate according to the accounts other folks apply or the content material they prefer, a teenager who interacts with grownup content material may well be wrongly estimated to be 16 or older.
Of the ones requested to make sure their age by way of offering photographs of themselves, many kids reported fooling the gadget by way of dressed in mask or having their older siblings (or even their oldsters) take a seat in entrance of the digital camera. All of those answers had been identified and extensively reported months sooner than the December release.
What does the proof display?
In March 2026, the Australian eSafety Fee revealed its first detailed compliance file. It confirmed that social media corporations had taken “some measures” to limit get right of entry to to accounts. However the file additionally equipped information from oldsters appearing that 70% of kids maintained energetic social media accounts.
The file highlighted 4 key compliance problems. It discovered that messaging under-16s on some platforms inspired kids to take a look at to claim their age, even if they declared themselves to be minors. Some platforms allowed the ones below 16 years of age to many times try the similar age verification technique to in the end move the age exams. The avenues for reporting age-restricted accounts have typically now not been available or efficient, particularly for fogeys. In spite of everything, some platforms seem to have now not completed sufficient to forestall the ones below 16 from having accounts.
The file defined that Fb, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube had been being investigated for “possible non-compliance.” Even if the result of those investigations don’t seem to be but identified, execution choices are anticipated by way of mid-year. In the meantime, oldsters stay pissed off by way of the ineffectiveness of the law.
What can the United Kingdom be told from Australia’s experiment?
The United Kingdom authorities will put into effect stricter measures than Australia, banning under-18s from having access to romantic or sexual AI chatbots and together with gaming websites within the restrictions. Alternatively, Australia has already offered equivalent measures.
The Australian authorities introduced a brand new legislative rule in order that its definition of social media comprises platforms with “addictive or harmful design features.” It additionally offered new restrictions on engines like google, synthetic intelligence gear, gaming platforms and different applied sciences to restrict kids’s get right of entry to to pornography, extraordinarily violent content material and self-harm content material. The good fortune of those measures isn’t but identified.
Australia will even introduce virtual responsibility of care law later this yr, hanging further expectancies on era corporations to forestall virtual damage.
With the United Kingdom pronouncing it is going to introduce a “complete ban” on all kids below 16 having access to social media, a key query is how this will likely be accomplished. The Australian revel in and several other world research display vital obstacles in age assurance applied sciences, that have error charges of 1 to a few years when making an attempt to estimate other folks’s ages.
The United Kingdom may just require tech corporations to make use of age verification for all social media customers, the place everybody over 16 must provide a government-issued ID or different proof to turn out their age. However this means raises vital privateness considerations. The United Kingdom’s revel in with age verification for porn websites noticed an important building up in the usage of VPNs, which may be used to avoid social media restrictions.
Virtual areas must be protected for other folks of every age. However I don’t believe bans are the solution. Generation corporations should be held responsible and required to dam damaging content material and construct safety into their designs.
