World watches first teen social media ban kick off in Australia

A 10-year-old girl watches a social media site at her home in western Sydney on Dec 10, 2025. Australia banned young teenagers from social media on Wednesday, launching a world-first crackdown designed to unglue children from addictive scrolling on the likes of Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. — AFP

Australia’s social media ban for youths took effect on Dec 10, a landmark move that’s drawn global attention at a time governments are increasingly enacting rules to shield minors from toxic content and cyberbullying. 

The law, passed last year, mandates services such as ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok and Meta Platforms Inc’s Instagram keep under-16s off their platforms or face fines of up to A$49.5mil (RM135.63mil or US$33mil). Australia becomes the world’s first democracy to undertake such a crackdown in response to growing concerns about social media’s harms.