On Wednesday morning, local time, over one million Australian children discovered their social media accounts had vanished. And it may not be long before kids in other countries find themselves in a similar predicament.
Under the new law, which was approved late last year, no one under the age of 16 in Australia will be allowed to set up accounts on platforms including Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, X, Snapchat, Twitch, and Reddit. Any accounts for people in that age category will be deactivated or removed. The law is meant to protect the mental health of children from the addictive nature of social media.
Australia’s law goes three years beyond the de facto minimum age for social media limits in the U.S., where privacy legislation dictates that children under 13 are not supposed to be able to create accounts (though they easily end-run those restrictions). Anika Wells, the country’s communications minister, said those extra years will help children mature more before they take part in social media.
“We want children to have childhoods. We want parents to have peace of mind and we want young people—young Australians—to have three more years to learn who they are before platforms assume who they are,” she said earlier this year.
The legislation is being watched carefully by other governments, which have struggled with the impact of social media on young minds. If Australian children show improvements in their mental (and physical) health, with reduced reports of depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder, and more, the country’s policies could become a blueprint for other nations.
Several have already put plans into motion. Denmark, Norway, Malaysia, and the European Parliament have all either announced plans to ban social media access for children, similar to the Australian law, or are in the process of creating new rules.
Denmark has gone the furthest, announcing last month that it would ban access to social media for anyone under 15, noting 94% of the children in that country had profiles on at least one social media platform. Under the age of 10, half of all Danish children do. The country has not yet set a date for the ban to begin.
“Children and young people have their sleep disrupted, lose their peace and concentration, and experience increasing pressure from digital relationships where adults are not always present,” the Danish ministry for digital affairs said. “This is a development that no parent, teacher or educator can stop alone.”
As for the U.S., don’t expect similar legislation anytime soon. The Big Tech lobby is firmly against the policy. And tech leaders, including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, have a close relationship with Donald Trump. Even those whose relationship with Trump is contentious are seemingly protected. Last week, when the European Commission hit Elon Musk’s X with nearly $140 million in fines for violating its moderation law, the Trump Administration came out swinging.
“The European Commission’s $140 million fine isn’t just an attack on X, it’s an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media. “The days of censoring Americans online are over.”
Some U.S. states, including Texas and Florida, have tried to enact bans, but those measures have either failed to pass the state legislatures or have been struck down by courts.
Australia’s social media ban, meanwhile, passed with overwhelming support, though some critics warned it would be “too blunt an instrument to address risks effectively.”
Social media companies were given a year to beef up their technology to confirm user ages and teens were encouraged to begin weening themselves off of the apps, so the formal ban wouldn’t come as a shock. Teens were even given a checklist to prepare for the shift.