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According to a late-2024 survey conducted among Australian adults regarding the social media ban for under-16s passed by the Federal Parliament in December 2024, more than ** percent of adults in each age cohort were supportive of the ban. Those aged 55 and over were particularly in favor of the social media ban, at over ** percent of respondents in this age category. In comparison, respondents aged 18 to 34 years were relatively supportive, but less so than other age groups.

Australia’s social media ban for under-16s

In December 2024, Australia’s parliament passed its social media ban for children and young teenagers, establishing a mandatory minimum age of 16 for social media access, hoping to safeguard the country’s youth from exposure to distressing content, online harassment, and negative mental health impacts. The ban is set to take effect by December 2025, spanning many popular social networking sites, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, and X (formerly Twitter). Australia’s adult population has been largely supportive of the regulations and the introduction of stronger civil penalties on social media providers failing to comply. However, several major social media platforms have criticized the measures, especially due to YouTube’s exemption, with its rivals saying it creates an unfair, less competitive playing field by granting Google preferential treatment.

YouTube dodges ban while competitors required to roll out age-assurance measures

In a 2024 survey, YouTube came out on top as the most popular social media network among Australia’s pre-teens and young teenagers. The platform has been initially exempted from the regulations due to aspects including its educational value, parental supervision functions, and its core business model as an online video streaming service. Nevertheless, YouTube is still expected to take responsibility for protecting its young community. On the other hand, major platforms included in the ban are faced with introducing age-verification measures to ensure that users under 16 are unable to create or maintain existing profiles. Yet, historically, minimum age requirements have proved difficult to enforce due to a lack of age-checking infrastructure and young people accessing services via other methods, including using a parent or caregiver’s account, providing a false age, or viewing account-free accessible content.