To agree with the Australian age assurance for social media (ban for under 16s)

28 replies

estrogone · 13/11/2025 19:19

I agree that U16s should not have access to social media. There have been so many shocking instances of young people taking their own lives by suicide or dieing through social media challenges, not to mention bullying, porn, revenge porn, catfishing and so much more.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/big-tech-stops-complaining-starts-complying-with-australias-teen-social-media-2025-11-12/

Wondering if this is a watershed moment a la John Howard's gun ban in the 90s, or if it will just drive children under ground.

Tech Companies face fines of up to AU$49.5M, so it will be very interesting to see how the roll out goes.

OP posts:

vetprob · 19/02/2026 11:45

Simonjt · 19/02/2026 08:14

You pretty much can control everything as a parent, where social media is concerned the only ways a child can access it are by you giving them access, allowing another person to buy them a smart phone and not checking access, or via a friends phone. Friends phone is most likely, but unless your child is rarely at home and rarely supervised that significantly reduces time exposed to social media.

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Far easier to hold these boundaries when you have a law backing you up, and all their mates have the same law applying to them.

RockaLock · 19/02/2026 22:30

Idontspeakgermansorry · 19/02/2026 08:18

I'm also perplexed at the ban smartphones for under 18s poster. Without social media, what is the issue with smartphones?

Nobody would argue that teens shouldn't be allowed to make phonecalls, use a map, listen to music, check their online banking, buy a bus ticket, set an alarm, and on and on and on. Phones are just useful pieces of kit and embedded in modern life now.

Well, yes, exactly.

My DS has an app on his phone for his hearing aids. Should he not be allowed to have access to that?

I don’t disagree at all with the view that SM is harmful to young people, and ideally, yes, you’d stop access. But I just don’t see how it’s remotely enforceable. Require age verification? They’ll just install a VPN 🤷‍♀️ I suppose you could require all VPNs to have age verification as well before installation, but I’m guessing people would find a way to get around that too.

3flyingducksarrive · 20/02/2026 02:32

vetprob · 14/11/2025 03:39

I hope that with it coming from govt, enough people will comply to make it work.

It's much easier not to do something if most of your mates aren't doing it too. Less FOMO.

That's why it's so hard in the UK to put it off. There are no restrictions so everyone has a phone, in fact you can't even catch the school bus without a pass on your smart phone.

Little things like that undermine parental choice.

So to the kids working out how to get around the law in aus... there might not be that many other kids doing that, so it might not be quite as worth it.

Well it's the same here for our teens needing a smartphone for daily life.

The whole thing is ridiculous.

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