Australia has already banned social media for less than 16s – right here’s what the United Kingdom can be informed from the enjoy

As the United Kingdom prepares to introduce an “Australia plus” ban on social media for less than 16s, many courses can also be discovered from Australia’s experiment. Many of us would possibly suppose Australia’s ban is a luck, with just about 5 million social media accounts deactivated, got rid of or limited. However the truth couldn’t be farther from the reality.

The Australian law calls for social media platforms – corresponding to Instagram, TikTok and Fb – to take “reasonable steps” to stop below 16s from protecting social media accounts. This implies youngsters can proceed to view social media content material – on YouTube, as an example – on a internet browser, with no need an account.

This law applies to all platforms whose “sole or significant purpose” is to permit “online social interaction”, permitting folks to hyperlink to or have interaction with others, and to put up subject material at the platform. On the other hand, the law excludes gaming platforms, messaging apps and platforms whose “sole or primary purpose” is tutorial or well being similar. The federal government supplies a self-assessment information for platforms to spot whether or not they should prohibit get entry to.

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner did supply an “initial list” of ten platforms regarded as “likely” to fall below the law. Those incorporated Fb, Snapchat, Instagram, X, and Twitch. Reddit used to be additionally incorporated and right away introduced a criminal problem, which has but to be resolved.

The eSafety Commissioner additionally named ten platforms “unlikely” to fall below the law (corresponding to Roblox, YouTube Children and Discord). But such exclusions proceed to boost considerations round possible injury. In February, the eSafety Commissioner put Roblox “on notice” following a number of world reviews of grooming, together with a person who used to be jailed for this offence in the United Kingdom.

Used to be the release of the ban a hit?

Since its release on 10 December 2025, Australian media has been full of tales of kids ultimate on social media platforms. There used to be a significant spike in downloads of non-mainstream platforms, like Rednote, Yope, and Lemon8.

Youngsters reported exploiting the law’s identified “loophole” through transferring their conversations to gaming and messaging apps, or through the usage of VPNs to get entry to current accounts. Many below 16s who have been first of all locked out in their accounts additionally reported with the ability to reactivate or create new accounts right away.

Youngsters reported being nonetheless ready to get entry to social media.
Irene Miller/Shutterstock

There have been additionally many reviews of below 16s (and their folks) being stunned they weren’t requested to guarantee their age, in any respect. As some firms use behaviour-based age assurance applied sciences, with age estimation in keeping with the accounts folks observe, or they content material they prefer, a teenager interacting with mature content material may just mistakenly be estimated to be 16 or older.

Of those that have been requested to guarantee their age through offering photographs of themselves, many youngsters reporting fooling the device with mask or through having older siblings (or even folks) sit down in entrance of the digicam. A lot of these workarounds have been identified, and broadly reported, months forward of the December release.

What does the proof display?

In March 2026, Australia’s eSafety Fee launched its first detailed compliance record. It confirmed social media firms had taken “some steps” to limit get entry to to accounts. However the record additionally equipped information from folks appearing 70% of kids retained energetic social media accounts.

The record highlighted 4 key compliance problems. It discovered that messaging to under-16s on some platforms inspired youngsters to aim age assurance, even the place they declared themselves to be underage. Some platforms enabled under-16s to many times strive the similar age-assurance technique to in the long run move age exams. Pathways for reporting age-restricted accounts have normally no longer been available and efficient, in particular for folks. In the end, some platforms seem to not have completed sufficient to stop under-16s having accounts.

The record defined Fb, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube have been being investigated for “potential non-compliance”. Whilst the result of those investigations aren’t but identified, enforcement choices are anticipated through midyear. Within the period in-between, folks proceed to be annoyed with the ineffectiveness of the law.

What can the United Kingdom be informed from Australia’s experiment?

The United Kingdom authorities will enforce stricter measures than Australia, through banning below 18s from getting access to romantic or sexual AI chatbots and together with gaming websites within the restrictions. On the other hand, Australia has already offered an identical measures.

The Australian authorities introduced a brand new legislative rule so its definition of social media comprises platforms with “addictive or otherwise harmful design features”. It additionally offered new restrictions on search engines like google and yahoo, AI equipment, gaming platforms and different applied sciences to restrict youngsters’s get entry to to pornography, excessive violent content material and self-harm content material. The luck of those measures isn’t but identified.

Australia will even introduce virtual responsibility of care law later this 12 months, which can position further expectancies on generation firms for fighting virtual harms.

With the United Kingdom’s declare that it is going to introduce a “sweeping ban” of all youngsters below 16 on social media, a vital query to invite is how that will likely be accomplished. Australia’s enjoy and several other international research display vital obstacles in age assurance applied sciences, that have error charges of 1 to 3 years when making an attempt to estimate folks’s ages.

The United Kingdom may just require generation firms to make use of age verification for all social media customers – the place everybody 16 and older would want to equipped government-issued ID or different proof to turn out their age. However this way brings vital privateness considerations. The United Kingdom’s enjoy with age verification for pornography websites noticed an important building up in the usage of VPNs, which may be used to avoid social media restrictions.

Virtual areas must be protected for folks of every age. However I don’t imagine bans are the solution. Generation firms want to be held to account and required to dam destructive content material and construct protection into their designs.