COLUMN: Viewpoint – Australia social media youth ban a bold move

Australia took a very bold step yesterday. They made it illegal for anyone under 16 to be on social media. If a social media company is found to have young children as subscribers, they will be subject to criminal prosecution. It is now against the law for Australian kids to have an Instagram, Facebook, X (Twitter), Tik Tok, YouTube, Snap Chat or Threads account.

A special government department has been set up to monitor the ban and social media giants like META began informing their youngest clients over a month ago they needed to save their account photos and messages if they wanted to preserve them.

Parents and children will not be criminally charged if they fail to comply with the new laws, but social media companies will face up to $50 million in fines if they don’t close down accounts of all kids under 16 and carefully monitor their platforms for young users.

A study commissioned by the Australian government at the beginning of 2025 determined that 96 percent of children aged 10-15 in their country used social media and that the majority of them had been exposed to damaging content that promoted violence and misogyny or triggered eating disorders and suicide. More than half of children had been the victim of cyberbullying or experienced grooming behaviour from adults. That gave the government plenty of good data to justify passing the law banning kids from social media.

And Australia is not unique in their concern about children’s addiction to social media. My contacts in both the fields of Canadian education and medicine tell me mental health is their number one concern when it comes to the young people they teach and care for. And Statistics Canada backs that up. About 1.2 million children and youths in Canada are being effected by mental health struggles and numerous studies show a strong link between time spent on social media and psychological distress in Canadian teens, particularly girls.

Social media absorption creates other problems as well. If kids spend too much time on social media they aren’t being active, exercising, or spending time outdoors, things crucial to good physical health. Late night social media use, all too common with young people, means they aren’t getting the sleep they need, which is vital for the focus required by their studies at school. And while some kids use social media to build relationships, many ignore friendships and personal interaction for their mesmerizing screens, resulting in what some call a ‘pandemic of loneliness.’

I understand the addiction to social media. I have several social media accounts necessary for promoting my work as a journalist and author. It is so easy to get caught up scrolling through those feeds instead of doing other more important things that are key to my health and well-being. If adults, who should be more sensible and responsible struggle with this, how can we expect kids to make wise decisions when it comes to social media.

Australia believes banning social media is absolutely necessary in order to, as their government puts it, ‘save an entire generation.’ They know there will be all sorts of problems and hiccups with enforcing their new law but they still feel strongly they must move forward and learn as they go.

Australia is the first country in the world to carry out such a comprehensive ban of social media for young people, but you can be certain other nations are watching to see what will happen before instituting something similar. I’m sure many concerned parents, grandparents, medical professionals and teachers are watching too, hoping the ban will be effective.