Australia's Social Media Ban For Children Under 16 Comes Into Effect

As the clock strikes 12 in Australia, the heavily debated social media ban for children under 16 has come into effect. With this, Australia has become the first country to ban social media for the age-group in question.

According to country's bureau of statistics, the number of children under 16 in Australia is approximately five million, while those between the ages of 10 and 15 are close to one million.

With the ban officially in place, children in Australia under the age of 16 are prohibited creating accounts on popular social media sites including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.

Companies that violate the law could face fines of up to A$50 million ($32 million) for each breach. However, underage users and their parents will not be penalised for breaking the rules themselves.

When it was first introduced, the bill garnered a lot of criticism from owners of tech and social media giants with the likes of Meta, X and others.

Since 2021, after parliamentary investigations into online safety and social media content, public pressure on the government to intervene had steadily increased.

These inquiries featured testimonies from people who experienced online abuse and from parents whose children died by suicide. The legislation was first introduced in the Parliament around a year ago.

In November, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese commented on the ban and said, "This is about letting kids be kids".

Amid growing instances of cyberbullying and social-media use linked to depression and anxiety cases among teens and youngsters, many countries have begun mulling over imposing a stricter framework around social media usage.

This includes Denmark and Malaysia that are planning to impose a similar ban and also the European Union, that has been pushing for more stringent age restrictions and called for region-wide ban on social media for users under 16 years towards the end of last month.