Australia's social media ban for children and the countries following it

In 2024 Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's government proposed a minimum age for social media,^[10] and Australia's states and territories unanimously backed a national ban for under-16s.^[11] The communications minister introduced the bill in November,^[12] and Parliament passed it at the end of that month.^[13][2] Critics warned that the ban would push children to less regulated platforms and would be hard to enforce.^[10][14] In 2025 the government reversed an earlier promise to exempt YouTube,^[3] added Reddit and Kick,^[4] and said platforms should not require age checks for every user.^[15]

Meta began notifying users aged 13 to 15 that their accounts would close,^[16] and the ban took effect as scheduled despite a constitutional challenge.^[17][1] Reddit filed its own court challenge,^[18] and Meta, which said it had blocked nearly 550,000 accounts in a week, urged the government to rethink the ban.^[19] Abroad, Spain's prime minister said his country would move to ban minors from social media,^[6] Indonesia announced a ban for under-16s,^[7] and France passed a ban for under-15s that its top court struck down in August 2026.^[20][8] Lawsuits in the US over social media's effects on children are followed in another arc. In November, Australia's highest court heard challenges to the law.^[21]