Australia has imposed the world’s first restriction preventing millions of children and teenagers under the age of sixteen from accessing their social media accounts.
Among the platforms to implement the new law are Instagram, Facebook, Threads, X, Snapchat, Kick, Twitch, TikTok, Reddit and YouTube.
Companies that violate the restriction may be fined up to A$ 49.5 million (US$ 32 million, £25 million) but parents and children will not be penalized.
The Australian government claims the ban is intended to shield youth from harmful contents but others claim it could push kids into unregulated areas of the internet and isolate vulnerable youngsters.
Many other nations are closely observing this ban but it’s unclear how the Australian government will assess its success.
Australian teens have expressed diverse views some saying “insulted,” while others think they’ll “quickly get over it.”
By Tuesday, every platform on the list—aside from X—had promised to abide by the prohibition.
Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety commissioner, stated that although X had recently discussed how it would comply, the company had not informed users of its policy.
Despite eSafety classifying the platform as “low risk” because to its small user base of 50,000 in Australia, Bluesky, an X rival, said on Tuesday that it will likewise restrict under-16s.
Australian kids had been exchanging phone numbers, doing age assurance checks and were ready to have their accounts canceled for the past few weeks.