Australia has made history by becoming the first country to ban social media use for children under 16.
The new law has immediately affected millions of young users, preventing them from accessing popular platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
Under the new law, ten major social media platforms must block users under 16 and block them from signing up again or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($33 million).
All platforms except X have confirmed they will comply the law while X has discussed compliance with officials but hasn't told users its policy ye
In the weeks, leading up to the ban, children completed age verification checks, updated phone numbers and prepared for accounts deactivation.
Kieran Donovan, CEO and co-founder of the age verification service k-ID, said his company had carried out hundreds of thousands of checks recently.
Australia has five million children under 16, including one million aged 10 to 15.
While many children, tech companies and free speech advocates criticized the law, parens and child protection groups welcomed it.
Affected platforms
The ban applies to major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit and streaming services Kick and Twitch.
However, sites like YouTube Kids, Google Classroom and messaging app such as WhatsApp remain accessible to children.
