Australia has banned social media for children under 16-years old
發佈日期: 2025-12-10 20:57
TVB News
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has welcomed a world-first social media ban for children younger than 16-years old.
The ban took effect Wednesday as families take back power from tech giants but warned the implementation would be difficult.
Australian teenagers took to social media for the last time to say farewell to their followers and mourn the loss of the platforms that have shaped much of their lives.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a public message: "Social media can be a bit overwhelming for all of us. But for our kids it can cause real harm. And that's why from this week we're banning social media accounts for those under 16. It will mean more time for children to learn, grow and just be kids without algorithms getting in the way."
Speaking at an event at his official Sydney residence, Albanese called the ban one of the "biggest social and cultural changes" his country has faced.
"This will make an enormous difference. It is one of the biggest social and cultural changes that our nation has faced. It's a profound reform, which will continue to reverberate around the world in coming months, to assist not just this generation, but generations to come. It is about our families taking back control."
The ban legally bars children younger than 16 from holding accounts with social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and TikTok. The platforms face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove the accounts.
Sydney schoolboy Noah Jones, who turns 16 in August, is joining another 15 year-old as a plaintiff in a constitutional challenge to the law in the High Court.
He said: "I'm against this social media ban because as young Australians, we will be completely silenced and cut off from our country and the rest of the world with this ban. We've just grown up with this our entire lives, and now it's just been taken away from us all of a sudden. We wouldn't even know what else we could do."
Noah's mother Renee said: "I've always had very tight protocols because our family has been very open about the fact that while we love the modern age of technology, and Noah engages social media in so many positive, wholesome ways, the things that Noah's generation learns, we dreamed of. We were so limited to libraries and single pages of encyclopedia."
