Australia’s social media ban has come into effect. As of today, the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 sees children under 16 banned from having accounts on 10 social media platforms.
The bill, seen as the first of its kind in the world, aims to protect children from the “pressures” and “risks” of social media. The move has divided opinion. Supporters welcome the protection afforded to children, but opponents argue it creates cybersecurity risks, and that age verification checks have a dangerous effect on online privacy.
There were calls for the ban to be delayed, but this hasn’t happened – and hundreds of thousands of Australians will now be impacted.
The Australian government has stressed this law isn’t a social media “ban,” rather “a delay to having accounts.”
It has assessed various social media platforms to determine which should be age-restricted and which shouldn’t. Following this assessment, 10 social media platforms fit the eSafety Commissioner’s requirement for age-restriction. These are:
- TikTok
- Snapchat
- X (Twitter)
- YouTube
- Twitch
- Kick
- Threads
Anyone under 16 years old will no longer be allowed to have an account on these platforms. Meta (Instagram, Threads, and Facebook) started blocking accounts on December 4, 2025, but all companies will now have to do the same.
The eSafety Commissioner has said this list isn’t exhaustive and further apps and platforms could be added in the future. For now, platforms including Discord, WhatsApp, Messenger, Pinterest, Bluesky, Roblox, and Steam are not included in the ban.
Fines of up to AU$49.5 million (~$32 million) can be handed out to companies who fail to implement “reasonable steps” to prevent children from having accounts.
What privacy protections are in place?
A key part of the legislation is the fact Australians won’t be compelled to submit government-approved ID to prove their age. Platforms can offer it as an option, but must also provide alternatives.
The government has reassured Australians that the law “builds on the existing privacy protections contained in the Privacy Act.” Social media companies must only use collected personal information for other purposes “in certain circumstances” – one of those being user consent. However it isn’t clear whether user consent must be obtained for every use of data beyond age verification, or just some.
The law’s primary aim is to protect children from the “pressures and risks” of social media. The Australian government has said it “is protecting young Australians at a critical stage of their development” through legislation described as a “world first.”
(Image credit: Jajah-sireenut / Getty Images)
Age verification and VPNs
Social media platforms will use engagement and account data to determine the age of a user. Anyone it thinks is under 16 will have their account removed. Affected users who want to appeal a decision or have been mistakenly labelled as under 16 will have to complete age verification checks to unlock their account.
As with the UK and US, data such as live selfies and government-issued ID can be used to verify age. Experts have been vocal about the data privacy and cybersecurity risks of age verification. There is concern over the threat of hacking and whether non-Australian age check companies will follow Australian data privacy laws.
The law also requires significant amounts of children’s personal data to be collected and monitored by social media companies – many of which don’t have stellar records when it comes to data privacy. This has led some to ask if the law does more harm than good.
Age check company Yoti said its technology is more accurate than humans at estimating age, especially for 16 to 17 years olds – however others say different. Reports have suggested accuracy varies, most notably for those with an Indigenous or south-east Asian background.
Image: Google Trends search data for the term “VPN” in Australia over the last 14 days. (Image credit: Future / Google Trends)
At the time of writing, a spike in the search term “VPN” is already being seen in Australia and is expected to continue rising.
VPNs encrypt your data but can also change your IP address. Connecting to a VPN server in another country will make it appear as though you’re located in that country when browsing the web – theoretically enabling a user to bypass age verification checks and/or bans.
It isn’t clear yet how exactly this would work in this particular situation, and whether social media accounts could be accessed from IP addresses outside of Australia. However the government requires social media platforms to try and “stop under-16s from using VPNs to pretend to be outside Australia.”
We’re yet to see how this could be done, but any targeting of VPNs could have a wider impact on legal VPN use in Australia and impact the online privacy of both children and adults.
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