Last Updated: December 13, 2025
Latest: Teens back on platforms within 24 hours using parents’ faces for age verification; many accounts never shut down
Australia’s Under-16 Social Media Ban: Latest Developments
Australia made history on December 10, 2025, becoming the first country to enforce a nationwide ban preventing children under 16 from accessing major social media platforms. The groundbreaking policy is already facing legal challenges and questions about its effectiveness.
This page tracks all major developments as the world’s first comprehensive social media age ban unfolds.
Latest Developments
December 12-13, 2025: Teens Already Back on Platforms Within 24 Hours
Parents Helping Kids Bypass the Ban
Fourteen-year-old cheerleader Lucy Brooks briefly lost some friends on Snapchat when Australia’s ban on social media came into effect on Wednesday, but within 24 hours, they were back. Many had made new accounts, with some borrowing the faces of parents and older friends who were happy to help them evade age detection technology.
Lucy noted “a lot of the time it was with the parents’ knowledge, but people are also using AI-generated pictures of people and videos, like getting AI to make a 40-year-old person”.
Many Accounts Never Shut Down
In a Sydney park, a group of four 15-year-old boys told CNN that none of them had lost their accounts. “I think it’s because I put my birthdate in as the year 2000 when I first signed up,” said one of the boys, his friends nodding.
Shar, a 15-year-old aspiring singer with 4,000 TikTok followers, reported “None of my accounts on any platform has been shut down, not even the ones that I put my real age”.
Business Impact Concerns
Lucas Lane, 16, who started his business Glossy Boys when he was 13 selling “skate-proof” nail polish mainly through Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, said “This social media ban is going to very much impact my business, and not only the business, but also the community and people here in Australia. I want people to be unique. I want people to be themselves, and I’m afraid that the government and the social media companies are not letting that happen”.
Government Celebration
To mark the ban’s introduction on Wednesday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hosted a barbecue at his Sydney residence with guests including parents of children who died by suicide after enduring cyber bullying. To celebrate the legislation, the Sydney Harbour Bridge was lit up in patriotic green and gold with the campaign slogan “Let Them Be Kids”.
December 12, 2025: Multiple Developments as Ban Faces Early Challenges
eSafety Commissioner Demands Compliance Data
The eSafety Commissioner announced she will send the 10 targeted platforms notices on Thursday demanding information on how the age restriction is being implemented and how many accounts have been closed, stating “We will provide information to the public before Christmas on how these age restrictions are being implemented and whether preliminarily we see them working”.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the platforms already had the technology and personal data about their users to enforce the age restriction with precision, and that “the responses to these notices will form the baseline against which we will measure compliance”.
Kids Drawing Facial Hair to Fool Age Detection
Parents reported distraught children discovering they’d been shut out of platforms as the landmark law took effect, while some young children reported fooling the platforms’ age estimation technology by drawing on facial hair.
Communications Minister Anika Wells responded to reports of circumvention: “Just because they might have avoided it (detection) today doesn’t mean they will be able to avoid it in a week’s time or a month’s time because social media platforms have to go back and routinely check under-16 accounts”.
Wells also stated that the age-restricted platforms “may not agree with the law and that’s their right — we don’t expect 100% universal support,” but that all had undertaken to comply with the Australian law.
YouTube Issues Strong Criticism
YouTube published an official statement saying “this rushed regulation misunderstands our platform and the way young Australians use it. Most importantly, this law will not fulfill its promise to make kids safer online, and will, in fact, make Australian kids less safe on YouTube”.
The platform explained that because the law requires kids to use YouTube without an account, it “removes the very parental controls and safety filters built to protect them,” calling these “the unfortunate consequences of a rushed legislative process that failed to allow for adequate consultation and consideration of the real complexities of online safety regulation”.
Reddit Files High Court Challenge
US-based Reddit filed court documents challenging the validity of Australia’s social media ban law that “infringes the implied freedom of political communication,” calling for a review by Australia’s High Court.
Reddit argued that it should be exempt from the government’s list of banned platforms on the grounds that it is an online discussion forum aimed at adults, stating “Unlike other platforms included under this law, the vast majority of Redditors are adults, we don’t market or target advertising to children under 18. Simply put, users under 16 are not a substantial market segment for Reddit and we don’t intend them to be”.
The platform claims the law “has the unfortunate effect of forcing intrusive and potentially insecure verification processes on adults as well as minors, isolating teens from the ability to engage in age-appropriate community experiences”.
“While we will comply with this law, we have a responsibility to share our perspective and see that it is reviewed by the courts,” Reddit said.
Now Two Constitutional Challenges
Reddit’s suit follows a case filed last month by Sydney-based rights group Digital Freedom Project, with both suits claiming the law is unconstitutional because it infringes on Australia’s implied freedom of political communication.
The Digital Freedom Project filed proceedings with two 15-year-olds, Noah Jones and Macy Neyland, as plaintiffs, arguing the ban “robs” young Australians of their freedom of political communication, an implied right in the constitution.
The High Court will hold a preliminary hearing in late February 2026 to set a date for Digital Freedom Project’s challenge, though it is not yet clear whether the two challenges would be heard together.
Global Interest Intensifies
The New Zealand Government has promised regulatory change to address social media harm, with Education Minister Erica Stanford leading the work, and expects to introduce a bill this term addressing social media use among young people.
December 12, 2025: Reddit Files High Court Challenge
US-based Reddit filed court documents challenging the validity of Australia’s social media ban law that “infringes the implied freedom of political communication,” calling for a review by Australia’s High Court.
Reddit’s Main Arguments:
The platform’s challenge rests on two key points:
1. Reddit Isn’t Traditional Social Media
Reddit argued that it should be exempt from the government’s list of banned platforms on the grounds that it is an online discussion forum aimed at adults, stating “Unlike other platforms included under this law, the vast majority of Redditors are adults, we don’t market or target advertising to children under 18. Simply put, users under 16 are not a substantial market segment for Reddit and we don’t intend them to be”.
The platform emphasized “This law is applied to Reddit inaccurately, since we’re a forum primarily for adults and we don’t have the traditional social media features the government has taken issue with”.
2. Privacy and Age Verification Concerns
Reddit claims the law “has the unfortunate effect of forcing intrusive and potentially insecure verification processes on adults as well as minors, isolating teens from the ability to engage in age-appropriate community experiences”.
Pointing to the site’s age rating of “17+” on the Apple App Store, Reddit said the best way to verify age was at the app store level rather than requiring each platform to carry out checks, with a spokesperson saying there were serious privacy concerns associated with platforms verifying age, as the collection of personal data creates a risk of leaks or hacks.
Reddit Will Still Comply
“While we will comply with this law, we have a responsibility to share our perspective and see that it is reviewed by the courts,” Reddit said.
The platform elaborated: “Despite the best intentions, this law is missing the mark on actually protecting young people online. So, while we will comply with this law, we have a responsibility to share our perspective and see that it is reviewed by the courts”.
Now Two Constitutional Challenges
Reddit’s suit follows a case filed last month by Sydney-based rights group Digital Freedom Project, with both suits claiming the law is unconstitutional because it infringes on Australia’s implied freedom of political communication.
The Digital Freedom Project filed proceedings in the High Court of Australia with two 15-year-olds, Noah Jones and Macy Neyland, as plaintiffs in the case, arguing the ban “robs” young Australians of their freedom of political communication, an implied right in the constitution.
The High Court will hold a preliminary hearing in late February 2026 to set a date for Digital Freedom Project’s challenge, though it is not yet clear whether the two challenges would be heard together.
Australian media has reported that YouTube also threatened to launch a High Court challenge on the grounds that the ban burdened political communication.
Early Signs of Circumvention
The rollout is already facing challenges, with many young people posting on TikTok that they successfully evaded the age limitations.
Professor Terry Flew of the University of Sydney noted “there’s a fair amount of teething problems around it,” acknowledging “you were never going to get 100% disappearance of every person under the age of 16 from every one of the designated platforms on day one”.
Teenagers are seeking alternatives, with photo-sharing platform Yope reporting 100,000 new Australian users and TikTok-owned Lemon8 surging into the top 10 most-downloaded apps.
This trend confirms concerns raised by critics before the ban’s implementation. David Inserra of the Cato Institute warned that children would evade the policy by shifting to new platforms, private apps like Telegram, or VPNs, driving them to “more isolated communities and platforms with fewer protections” where monitoring is harder.
Government Response
An Australian government spokesperson said Friday authorities were “on the side of Australian parents and kids, not platforms,” stating “We will stand firm to protect young Australians from experiencing harm on social media”.
Platform Concerns
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, raised concerns that teens could flock to darker, less regulated corners of the internet seeking connection with peers.
High-Profile Support
Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, said the ban is an urgent intervention that will help shield children from “unsafe and addictive platforms”, but argued it’s only a band-aid fix and does not tackle underlying issues with social media.
December 10, 2025: Ban Takes Effect
Australia became the first country to enforce a nationwide ban preventing users under 16 from accessing major social media platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, X, Reddit, and Threads.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described it as about “giving kids a childhood” and putting tech giants on notice, stating young Australians are “starting their day a little differently — without social media”.
Accounts Removed
Meta began removing accounts on December 4, 2025, affecting approximately 350,000 Instagram users and 150,000 Facebook users aged 13-15, giving users time to download their content before the December 10 deadline.
Evidence Behind the Decision
A government-commissioned study found 96% of Australian children aged 10 to 15 use social media, with seven in ten reporting exposure to harmful content including misogynistic material, fight videos, and content promoting eating disorders or suicide, and one in seven experiencing grooming-type behaviour from adults or older children.
UNICEF Australia backed the decision, calling the ban essential to protecting children from escalating risks of cyberbullying, harmful content, online predators, and mental-health damage linked to early social media exposure.
Critics’ Concerns
UNICEF cautioned that age-related restrictions alone won’t keep children safe, warning in a statement that “while UNICEF welcomes the growing commitment to children’s online safety, social media bans come with their own risks, and they may even backfire”.
The organization explained that for many children, particularly those who are isolated or marginalised, social media is a lifeline for learning, connection, play and self-expression, and many will still access social media through workarounds, shared devices, or less regulated platforms, which will only make it harder to protect them.
Public Support
Polling from December 2025 shows 70% of Australian voters endorse the ban and 15% oppose its aims, though 58% were not confident the ban would work compared to 33% who were fully confident.
The majority (53%) of voters aim to pick and choose which platforms to allow their child to use, with 29% intending full compliance and 13% taking no action.
Background: How the Ban Works
The Law’s Requirements
The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 requires ten platforms to take ‘reasonable steps’ to prevent under-16s from creating or keeping accounts, with platforms facing fines of up to A$49.5 million (approximately £26 million) for non-compliance.
Critically, parents and children face no penalties for attempting to circumvent the restrictions as the burden falls entirely on tech companies. There are no parental consent exceptions to the ban.
Which Platforms Are Covered
The ban currently applies to:
- Snapchat
- TikTok
- X (formerly Twitter)
- YouTube
- Threads
- Twitch
- Kick
Exempted Platforms
Services used for healthcare and education such as Messenger Kids, WhatsApp, Kids Helpline and Google Classroom are exempt.
Notably, gaming platform Roblox will not be banned, though the eSafety Commissioner has stated “there will not be a static list” of platforms due to changing services and technology.
Age Verification Technology
A report by Age Check Certification Scheme, a UK company recruited to consult on age verification technology, was issued in June 2025, ahead of the December deadline, with tech companies warning about inaccuracies in age-verification technology such as selfie-based age-guessing software.
What to Watch For
Near Term:
- Reddit continues compliance while awaiting court proceedings
- Preliminary hearing for the Digital Freedom Project case in late February 2026
- Ongoing monitoring of circumvention methods and platform migration
- Potential YouTube High Court challenge
Medium Term:
- High Court rulings on constitutional challenges (timeline unclear)
- Potential addition or removal of platforms from the banned list
- Assessment of the ban’s effectiveness in protecting young people
Global Implications:
The policy rollout in Australia is being closely watched by tech firms and lawmakers worldwide as other countries including Denmark, Norway, Malaysia, and New Zealand consider their own moves to ban or restrict teen social media usage.
Sources:
Australia is trying to enforce the first teen social media ban – CNBC
Australia Bans Under-16s From TikTok, Instagram, YouTube – IBTimes
Social media: Age-related bans won’t keep kids safe, UNICEF warns – UN News
