Australian government's social media ban for under-16's starts on December 10 2025

In Australia, all children under the age of 16 will be banned from platforms including Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, TikTok, X and Reddit from December 10. The federal government says the ban will protect the mental health and wellbeing of children and teens, and limit their exposure to harmful content.

There's still no clear information on how it will be implemented, and what role parents will be expected to play in supporting/enforcing the ban.

As I have an 8 y/o daughter this directly affects me, and I will not be playing 'cop' for the government to block my daughter from accessing whatever content *I* alone decide is appropriate for her to view.

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SomeMichGuy · M

As I have an 8 y/o daughter this directly affects me, and I will not be playing 'cop' for the government to block my daughter from accessing whatever content *I* alone decide is appropriate for her to view.

(Emphasis added.)

How much longer do you think "you alone" will control what she views?

zonavar68 · 56-60, M

@SomeMichGuy Whileever she's staying at my house (which means I'm here too) I monitor what she watches and often tell her something isn't appropriate. It's not up to the government to decide that - I'm the parent not Australia's E-Karen.

SomeMichGuy · M

@zonavar68 All I'm saying is that kids are smart at hiding what they actually view. Just like hiding vaping, drugs, etc.

I think you need to realize that she's likely not far from making choices which are hers, not yours, and you might be oblivious to whatever her choices actually are.

zonavar68 · 56-60, M

Gaming platforms are exempt from the ban. Things like Twitch, Discord, etc. are exempt from the ban. The way sites has been assessed to see if they should be banned has been revealed to be NOT based around the perceived level of harm caused to children through them.

It's now got just over a month to go before the ban goes 'live'. Still no indication how it will be implemented.

Maturebate · 70-79, M

Surely the pressure is on the sites to block access. Just "banning" U 16 will be futile . Like age rating movies hoping parents will enforce the restrictions. Will they use facial recog to guess the age of teens? Immense invasion of privacy if they do?

zonavar68 · 56-60, M

@Maturebate Some talk of facial rec with AI yes, which of course requires the device to have a camera (unsafe in itself), but also talk of adult users being forced to upload government id images, doing full ID checks, etc. and this is one way that digital ID will get pushed more. My laptop PC (a toughbook cf-31) has neither a camera or a microphone, so it can't be used for spying/monitoring like a 'smart speaker' does with audio, and no video ability.

Other ideas are simply disabling any/all accounts that a system 'thinks' is being used by u16's, or even forcibly blocking and deleting such accounts.

soar2newhighs

The young affected by this will hopefully appreciate and understand the ramifications of this being done…a tinge of tyranny, starting with the them.!

PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

@soar2newhighs Welcome to conservatism

Roundandroundwego · 61-69

It's sad that Western powers cannot risk the rage of the security state, they're impotent and can't create safe and wholesome social media at all!

PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

Will be fun to watch them try an enforce that. 😂

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