Australia bans social media for under-16s in world first

Australia’s Senate on Thursday approved a law to ban social media for children under the age of 16, some of the strictest controls in the world.

The House of Representatives still needs to approve the Senate’s amendments but this is little more than a formality due to the government’s majority.

The ban is expected to take effect in November 2025 and will force social media companies to implement age-verification protections or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million) for breaches. Alphabet’s Google and Meta argued that the ban should be delayed until a trial of the age-verification system had been completed.