Australia Bans Social Media for Everyone Under the age of 16

Question

This article states that Australia passed a law to ban social media under the age of 16. Is this true?

Answer 1

When looking at this claim I found it to be true pretty quickly. I found an article from BBC news that stated they will enforce this by requiring verification through government identification or a parent. This whole law was put into place in order to protect children from the dangerous of the web and to combat against data breaches. The ban is being placed on social media such as facebook, instagram, snapchat, and youtube.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyrkj0d44vo

Answer 2

My research from the claim that “Australia bans social media for everyone under the age of 16,” I learned that it's for the most part, inaccurate. According to ABC News and The Guardian, Australia hasn't actually banned social media for those under 16; the government is only exploring ways to create a safer online environment (abc.net.au; theguardian.com.) Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that officials are still researching how social media impacts youth before taking such drastic measures or deciding any new laws (pm.gov.au.) Some TikTok and X posts made it sound like the ban had already started, but that's false. Reuters Fact Check also confirmed that only certain areas, like South Australia, are experimenting with age checks, not banning apps completely (Reuters.com.) A lot of online posts tend to hyperbolize the story to make it sound dramatic and gain attention from the algorithm faster and on a bigger scale. I left a comment on the TikTok video asking where they got the information, but they never responded. Overall, the idea of a full ban is misleading, though Australia is clearly discussing tighter online safety rules.