Beginning this Wednesday, many Australian teenagers will discover it close to unattainable to entry social media. That’s as a result of, as of Dec. 10, social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram should bar these beneath the age of 16, or face important fines. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese known as the pending ban “one of the biggest social and cultural changes our nation has faced” in an announcement.
A lot is driving on this ban—and never simply in Australia. Different nations within the area are watching Canberra’s ban carefully. Malaysia, for instance, mentioned that it additionally plans to bar under-16s from accessing social media platforms beginning subsequent yr.
Different nations are contemplating much less drastic methods to regulate youngsters’ social media use. On Nov. 30, Singapore mentioned it will ban the usage of smartphones on secondary college campuses.
But, governments in Australia and Malaysia argue a full social media ban is important to guard youth from on-line harms reminiscent of cyberbullying, sexual exploitation and monetary scams.
Tech corporations have had different responses to the social media ban.
Some, like Meta, have been compliant, beginning to take away Australian under-16s from Instagram, Threads and Fb from Dec. 4, per week earlier than the nationwide ban kicks in. The social media large reaffirmed their dedication to stick to Australian regulation, however known as for app shops to as a substitute be held accountable for age verification.
“The government should require app stores to verify age and obtain parental approval whenever teens under 16 download apps, eliminating the need for teens to verify their age multiple times across different apps,” a Meta spokesperson mentioned.
Others, like YouTube, sought to be excluded from the ban, with dad or mum firm Google even threatening to sue the Australian federal authorities in July 2025—to no avail.
Nonetheless, specialists instructed Fortune that these bans could, the truth is, be dangerous, denying younger individuals the place to develop their very own identities and the area to study wholesome digital habits.
“A healthy part of the development process and grappling with the human condition is the process of finding oneself. Consuming cultural material, connecting with others, and finding your community and identity is part of that human experience,” says Andrew Yee, an assistant professor on the Nanyang Technological College (NTU)’s Wee Kim Wee Faculty of Communication and Info.
Social media “allows young people to derive information, gain affirmation and build community,” says Solar Solar Lim, a professor in communications and expertise on the Singapore Administration College (SMU), who additionally calls bans “a very rough tool.”
Yee, from NTU, additionally factors out that younger individuals can flip to platforms like YouTube to find out about hobbies that will not be obtainable of their native communities.
Forcing youngsters to go “cold turkey” off social media may additionally make for a tough transition to the digital world as soon as they’re of age, argues Chew Han Ei, a senior analysis fellow on the Lee Kuan Yew Faculty of Public Coverage within the Nationwide College of Singapore (NUS).
“The sensible way is to slowly scaffold [social media use], since it’s not that healthy social media usage can be cultivated immediately,” Chew says.
Enforcement
Australia plans to implement its social media ban by imposing a tremendous of 49.5 million Australian {dollars} (US$32.9 million) on social media corporations which fail to take steps to ban these beneath 16 from having accounts on their platforms.
Malaysia has but to clarify the way it may implement its personal social media ban, however communications minister Fahmi Fadzil recommended that social media platforms may confirm customers by way of government-issued paperwork like passports.
Although younger individuals could quickly work out learn how to keep their entry to social media. “Youths are savvy, and I am sure they will find ways to circumvent these,” says Yee of NTU. He additionally provides that younger could migrate to platforms that aren’t historically outlined as social media, reminiscent of gaming websites like Roblox. Different social media platforms, like YouTube, additionally don’t require accounts, thus limiting the efficacy of those bans, he provides.
Forcing social media platforms to gather large quantities of non-public knowledge and government-issued id paperwork may additionally result in knowledge privateness points. “It’s very intimate personally identifiable information that’s being collected to verify age—from passports to digital IDs,” Chew, from NUS, says. “Somewhere along the line, a breach will happen.”
Shifting in direction of wholesome social media use
Satirically, some specialists argue {that a} ban could absolve social media platforms of duty in direction of their youthful customers.
“Social media bans impose an unfair burden on parents to closely supervise their children’s media use,” says Lim of SMU. “As for the tech platform, they can reduce child safety safeguards that make their platforms safer, since now the assumption is that young people are banned from them, and should not have been venturing [onto them] and opening themselves up to risks.”
And relatively than permit digital harms to proliferate, social media platforms must be held answerable for making certain they “contribute to intentional and purposeful use”, argues Yee.
This might imply regulating corporations’ use of person interface options like auto-play and infinite scroll, or making certain algorithmic suggestions aren’t pushing dangerous content material to customers.
“Platforms profit—lucratively, if I may add—from people’s use, so they have a responsibility to ensure that the product is safe and beneficial for its users,” Yee explains.
Lastly, conversations on protected social media use ought to heart the voices of younger individuals, Yee provides.
“I think we need to come to a consensus as to what a safe and rights-respecting online space is,” he says. “This must include young people’s voices, as policy design should be done in consultation with the people the policy is affecting.”
