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Social Media Ban

Welcome to December 10, 2025, the day of reckoning for Social Media Platforms and under 16 year olds across Australia, where they are booted off social media networks. Is this the right call?

A quick recap

The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 was introduced to protect young people from the negative impacts of social media on their mental health and overall wellbeing. The law aims to prevent minors under the age of 16 from accessing age-restricted social media platforms, such as Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat. This is a response to growing concerns about the addictive nature of social media and the potential for harmful content exposure. The law requires social media companies to implement age verification systems to ensure compliance and to prevent minors from having accounts.

A step in the right direction?

From personal experience, I have my doubts on social media. For a long time now, I fear that the "social" part has disappeared, and it's now just "media". Open your Facebook (or any other app for that matter), and tell me how many relevant posts do you see (stuff you care about, stuff you actually follow, people you actually care about). Chances are, not many.

The sad reality is that while we feel a strong connection to these apps, it's really the dopamine talking. Take a critical look at the content you're seeing, and ask yourself: is this really in line with my views, with what I care about, is it adding any value to my life?

  • Facebook is filled with ads for robotic pool cleaners and robotic lawn mowers. Like I get it - these devices are kinda cool, but the thrill of pushing the mower around the yard is what gets me going. Stop giving me these ads.
  • Instagram is filled with political posts. Everything from Trump to Biden, and MAGA followers not knowing how the constitution works. That's important I guess to some people. Most of these posts are just to provoke an emotion, no real substance or facts.
  • TikTok got filled with (don't ask me how) animal abuse videos. TikTok for me was the worst. Its algorithm was very aggressive in showing provocative content. I did not last long on TikTok before I removed the app.

I'm not entirely against the idea of protecting our young people against social media, but I am wondering why it was just a blanket "ban under 16 year olds", and not a deeper dive into "What are you trying to protect them from"?

What they're getting wrong

The social platforms are making their money by sharing content that gets you angry, and keeps you engaged on the platform. Their algorithms do not care what the content is, just as long as they keep you on their platform. The "mindless scrolling" through reels just to get through the day is what gets them going. Instead of just blocking under 16 year olds, I'm wondering why the government didn't look at the algorithms instead. If harmful content is your concern, then surely these platforms need to do something to fix that. This is not an "under 16" problem - it's an "everyone" problem. We have way too much junk and misinformation going around.

Bullying

The government is also concerned with online bullying. I get it - this is a big problem. So let's kick the young people off the platform with the goal of... stopping bullying? As a parent, I've lived through my kids getting bullied. Kicking them off social media does not stop the bullying. A lot of bullying is physical, so unless you actually stop one kid from harassing another, this social media ban will do nothing for their wellbeing. All it will do is shift the altercation to another form.

Circumventing the controls

So the law is applicable to the young person under 16 years old that has an account. Right, so YouTube can be accessed without an account, so if you want to get onto YouTube, just log out, and you're good to go. They're concerned about online bullying? Kids will just move back to classic text messages or Discord servers.

Kids are clever. Give them a rule of something they cannot do, and they'll find a way around it. You've given them a challenge, so now some weird app no one has ever heard of will surge in popularity. And to make it even better, this weird app won't be hosted in Australia, won't care about our laws, and the app will become the go-to for our young people.

"Just use my account!" will be the screams from many parents, who will help their kids get around this restriction.

Punish the rest

While the law is targeting the under 16 year old, some others will also come into the cross fire. From today, some of you will likely face a situation where your access is blocked, because the social platform thinks you're under 16. This is the bit that I'm cautious about.

The platforms use various techniques to determine if you're old enough for the platform. Typically they'll use the age of the account. Other apps will resort to some sort of identity verification where they want you to take a picture of your government issued driver's license. They claim it is "safe and secure", but any site that requires you to take a photo of your government issued driver's license or passport to prove your age is asking for trouble.

Where are the parents?

As a parent, I do have to wonder if the parents are involved in their kids' lives. I've seen what these platforms can do, and I've also seen the benefits of taking their devices away for a week, so why are we now trusting the parenting to the government? Because parents are also part of the problem. If a parent is also spending their nights on TikTok instead of with their kids, having a balanced conversation about what is going on in their lives, then we have a bigger problem. A social media ban for the kids is not going to solve that.

The bottom line

This ban feels like a band-aid solution to a much deeper problem. Instead of addressing the root causes (algorithmic manipulation, harmful content, and lack of parental involvement), the government has opted for a blanket restriction that's easy to announce but hard to enforce. Kids will find workarounds, parents will be frustrated by false positives, and the real issues plaguing social media will continue unchecked. If we truly want to protect young people, we need to focus on holding platforms accountable for their algorithms, empowering parents with better tools and education, and fostering critical thinking skills in our children. A simple age gate isn't going to cut it.