Social Media Ban for Kids Under 16 – Why Australia Did It
On Nov 29, 2024, the Australian federal government amended the Online Safety Act to ban children younger than 16 years from having social media accounts. Tiktok, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Threads social media companies face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars ($32.9 million US dollars) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove the accounts of Australian children younger than 16.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated the ban aims to reduce social media harms for children and
it’s all about making sure children have a childhood and parents have peace of mind.
Several news media announced the first official ban for social media use in the world.
For example, BBC commented “Why is the Australian government banning social media for under-16s?”. As per this BBC report, the Australian government says it will reduce the negative impact of social media’s “design features that encourage [young people] to spend more time on screens, while also serving up content that can harm their health and well-being”.
Importantly, according to this report, a study the Australian government commissioned earlier in 2025 found that 96% of children aged 10-15 used social media, and that seven out of 10 of them had been exposed to harmful content. “This included misogynistic and violent material as well as content promoting eating disorders and suicide”.
Euronews is citing the Denmark’s minister for digital affairs, Caroline Stage: “In far too many years, we have given the social media platforms free play in the playing rooms of our children. There’s been no limits,” she said.
“When we go into the city at night, there are bouncers who are checking the age of young people to make sure that no one underage gets into a party that they’re not supposed to be in. In the digital world, we don’t have any bouncers, and we definitely need that”, she added.
The Associated Press (AP) is citing the father of a sextortion scam victim, who became an age restriction advocate because his son took his own life after falling victim to an online sextortion scam, saying the social media ban is a start.
FRANCE 24 is citing a report released by Australia’s eSafety commissioner, which found that four out of five respondents between the ages of eight and 12 had used one or more social media platforms in 2024.
Why is this happening?
Again FRANCE 24 is commenting that the Australian government maintains that the restriction is a much-needed measure to fight back against what a growing body of research suggests is a worsening mental health crisis fueled by excessive social media use.
The French media is discussing briefly a JAMA Psychiatry study entitled: Associations Between Time Spent Using Social Media and Internalizing and Externalizing Problems Among US Youth. This US study found that adolescents who spent more than three hours a day on social media faced double the risk of experiencing poor mental health, including symptoms of anxiety or depression.
Moreover, FRANCE 24 is commenting on Marilyn Bromberg, an associate professor at the University of Western Australia, saying that a social media landscape saturated with images of figures conforming to unrealistic or unhealthily idealized beauty standards.
According to this expert: “Essentially on social media we’ve got a lot of images of the thin ideal, of thin-ideal people, and there is a lot of research in psychology that has found that when people see images of the thin ideal, then it could harm their body image,” and, importantly, she added
that could potentially lead to developing eating disorders.
According to Jasmine Fardouly and her commentary in The Lancet Digital Health social media use has a complex relationship with mental health. She is referring to a few recent studies suggesting that without access to their own social media accounts, children might be less likely to experience cyberbullying (currently experienced by 11% of youth) and unwanted online sexual solicitation (11% of youth),
both of which can increase the risk for depression, self-harm, and suicidal behavior.
And, as discussed above, the ban might also reduce children’s exposure to harmful online content and communities, such as those promoting eating disorders and unattainable beauty ideals.
Dr. Jasmine Fardouly, who is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology, University of Sydney, believes that the ban’s effectiveness and consequences remain uncertain and will likely be a mix of benefits, harms, and neutral outcomes, reflecting the complexity of the effect of social media.
Related stories you may like:
Half of UK’s Young People Would Choose a World Without the Internet
The Evolving Link between Social Media Addiction and Depression in Young Adults
Generalized Anxiety Disorder Linked to High IFN-γ and TNF-α but Low IL-10 Peripheral Levels
Oxytocin Deficiency May Represent a Biomarker of Anxiety in Children
Suicidality Linked to High Levels of the Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines IL-1β and IL-6
Experimental Study Shows Link between Cerebrospinal Fluid IL-6 and Depressive Symptoms in Humans
Social Rejection: Neurocognitive Pathways and Induction of Inflammatory Responses
Magnified Peripheral IL-6 Response Linked To Stress Susceptibility and Higher Risk of Depression