I'm Australian. Many of these kids that still have access aren't lying about their birth date. They have their correct birth date on their profile. There have been parents that have repeatedly contacted social media companies about that their underage child still has access & they have done nothing. The facial scanning for age verification is a hit & miss - passes an under age child (even if they have an underage birth date on their profile) & those of age fail so they have to submit ID to prove their age. The kids that have been kicked off social media, often they are the only one in the peer group that has been kicked off. Some kids have lost access on the website but still have access on the app, or vice versa. Social media companies aren't trying to enforce this ban.
The worst thing about this ban is that it has removed parental protection features. Aussie kids can't have an youtube account, but they can still watch youtube not signed in. So can now watch anything on youtube as we don't have parental controls & they get ads that aren't age appropriate. I do agree, more needs to be done than just banning something, we all knew teens would just move to a new platform that isn't part of the ban. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-31/five-social-media-platforms-under-investigation-under-16s-ban/106513690
5 months. This ban has been in place for 5 months which is not enough time for any meaningful change to be seen. In actuality, whilst this ban includes children who are 13 - 15 years of age the target cohort is currently 8-10 years old. Of course the current crop of crafty teenagers are going to find work arounds for the hefty restrictions on their most prized method of communication, the government was relying on it as 'gap indicators', but it isn't really for them. What Australia is looking for is long term change in the way our culture guides children towards social media so as when the current crop of Year 2 students downstairs from my year 5/6 classroom move towards my room and beyond they aren't as obsessive and they aren't as quick to jump to these platforms as their predecessors were. This ban is being communicated through schools, through the news, through the social media of their parents and hopefully, into the brains of their parents because THAT is who has the greatest power here. Parents. They have the ability and the capacity to say 'NO, Roblox is not for you. NO, you cannot create a fake account.'
Prior to this ban, Australia did have it in legislation that parents were the ones who were deemed legally liable if their children were found to have fake accounts or lied about their ages, which was one of the recommendations listed in this article. But that didn't work as no policing system in the world has the workforce to sustain such enforcement. The smoking campaign of the 80s utilised free to air TV to spread their message but that's not a popular viewing option so pointless.
I am looking forward to seeing the stats on the impact of this ban should it hold its ground in 3-5 years. That's when the meaningful information can be pulled. Who knows, maybe it will be a failure for all of the reasons Carl listed above, but at least we will have robust data in which to draw meaningful conclusions because you can't get that after a measly 5 months.
A few days ago, I ran into an unexpected issue with my Facebook account and couldn't seem to get it resolved despite trying several Appeals. After spending hours looking for a solution, I was fortunate enough to come across Veronica Lawson, who works with Meta and she was incredibly helpful throughout the entire process. Thanks to her assistance, I was able to regain access to my account much sooner than I expected. She made what could have been a stressful experience much easier to navigate.
If you're dealing with a similar issue, it may be worth reaching out to her at Msveronica023@gmail .com.
I haven't allowed my younger two on social media platforms that require an account - they are old enough to have one but I've said no. They don't seem out of their social circle - if anything they are doing more stuff I think? They are allowed to watch youtube at home on the tele - but we've switched off auto play for all our sakes. The one thing they did need was WhatsApp though - so many social plans are made that way and they did miss out on party invites. They have it for an hour or so a day. I think I'm pretty strict compared to other parents but I work in social media marketing & write about online safety and I just know too much to budge now.
I think if there were to be any meaningful legislation targeting kids screen time it would have to classify excessive screen time as a form of parental neglect. Of course you would have to clarify what counts as excessive, but ultimately the responsibility of training children to use social media and screens healthily falls on parents. A ban that only impacts these large social media companies negatively if rules are broken is doomed from the start.
Thanks for your opinion about the dangers of a badly thought-out social-media ban. As I was reading, it made me think of people I know, who sell product; and when they're working they tell me their thoughts are on how to find ways to build habits and make that habit cool. You made some of the same points on the viability of bans against smoking or of social algorithms. Interesting.
Scammers frequently post fake comments on blogs, forums, and articles about hacked accounts, pretending a specific person on Gmail helped them recover an account. Their goal is to steal your credentials, demand payment, or take over your account completely. Meta employees and official support teams never use generic public email providers like Gmail.
I'm Australian. Many of these kids that still have access aren't lying about their birth date. They have their correct birth date on their profile. There have been parents that have repeatedly contacted social media companies about that their underage child still has access & they have done nothing. The facial scanning for age verification is a hit & miss - passes an under age child (even if they have an underage birth date on their profile) & those of age fail so they have to submit ID to prove their age. The kids that have been kicked off social media, often they are the only one in the peer group that has been kicked off. Some kids have lost access on the website but still have access on the app, or vice versa. Social media companies aren't trying to enforce this ban.
The worst thing about this ban is that it has removed parental protection features. Aussie kids can't have an youtube account, but they can still watch youtube not signed in. So can now watch anything on youtube as we don't have parental controls & they get ads that aren't age appropriate. I do agree, more needs to be done than just banning something, we all knew teens would just move to a new platform that isn't part of the ban. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-31/five-social-media-platforms-under-investigation-under-16s-ban/106513690
5 months. This ban has been in place for 5 months which is not enough time for any meaningful change to be seen. In actuality, whilst this ban includes children who are 13 - 15 years of age the target cohort is currently 8-10 years old. Of course the current crop of crafty teenagers are going to find work arounds for the hefty restrictions on their most prized method of communication, the government was relying on it as 'gap indicators', but it isn't really for them. What Australia is looking for is long term change in the way our culture guides children towards social media so as when the current crop of Year 2 students downstairs from my year 5/6 classroom move towards my room and beyond they aren't as obsessive and they aren't as quick to jump to these platforms as their predecessors were. This ban is being communicated through schools, through the news, through the social media of their parents and hopefully, into the brains of their parents because THAT is who has the greatest power here. Parents. They have the ability and the capacity to say 'NO, Roblox is not for you. NO, you cannot create a fake account.'
Prior to this ban, Australia did have it in legislation that parents were the ones who were deemed legally liable if their children were found to have fake accounts or lied about their ages, which was one of the recommendations listed in this article. But that didn't work as no policing system in the world has the workforce to sustain such enforcement. The smoking campaign of the 80s utilised free to air TV to spread their message but that's not a popular viewing option so pointless.
I am looking forward to seeing the stats on the impact of this ban should it hold its ground in 3-5 years. That's when the meaningful information can be pulled. Who knows, maybe it will be a failure for all of the reasons Carl listed above, but at least we will have robust data in which to draw meaningful conclusions because you can't get that after a measly 5 months.
A few days ago, I ran into an unexpected issue with my Facebook account and couldn't seem to get it resolved despite trying several Appeals. After spending hours looking for a solution, I was fortunate enough to come across Veronica Lawson, who works with Meta and she was incredibly helpful throughout the entire process. Thanks to her assistance, I was able to regain access to my account much sooner than I expected. She made what could have been a stressful experience much easier to navigate.
If you're dealing with a similar issue, it may be worth reaching out to her at Msveronica023@gmail .com.
Recovery scam.
The problem is its not just social media.
Kids shouldn't have smart phones or other personal electronic devices that give unrestricted round the clock access to the internet.
So ideally you want to at least ban smart phone AND social media before 18 (and in high school good point there).
Personally our kids (11 and 9) have been told they won't get smart phones or social media till 18.
We also took away their tablets. There is a laptop in the family room with a password on it.
I haven't allowed my younger two on social media platforms that require an account - they are old enough to have one but I've said no. They don't seem out of their social circle - if anything they are doing more stuff I think? They are allowed to watch youtube at home on the tele - but we've switched off auto play for all our sakes. The one thing they did need was WhatsApp though - so many social plans are made that way and they did miss out on party invites. They have it for an hour or so a day. I think I'm pretty strict compared to other parents but I work in social media marketing & write about online safety and I just know too much to budge now.
I think if there were to be any meaningful legislation targeting kids screen time it would have to classify excessive screen time as a form of parental neglect. Of course you would have to clarify what counts as excessive, but ultimately the responsibility of training children to use social media and screens healthily falls on parents. A ban that only impacts these large social media companies negatively if rules are broken is doomed from the start.
Thanks for your opinion about the dangers of a badly thought-out social-media ban. As I was reading, it made me think of people I know, who sell product; and when they're working they tell me their thoughts are on how to find ways to build habits and make that habit cool. You made some of the same points on the viability of bans against smoking or of social algorithms. Interesting.
It is interesting to see where this law is struggling. It is hard for me to see the government treating this to antismoking campaigns of the past.
Attention, this is a recovery scam.
Scammers frequently post fake comments on blogs, forums, and articles about hacked accounts, pretending a specific person on Gmail helped them recover an account. Their goal is to steal your credentials, demand payment, or take over your account completely. Meta employees and official support teams never use generic public email providers like Gmail.
It is possible to do age gating via 3rd party sites so the social media site or porn site doesn't have your personal info
It's good enough for me.