Can the country of Australia keep teens and children off of social media? Well they’ll certainly try. On December 10th, teens under 16 will be banned from using social media.

As of Wednesday, more than 1 million users under 16 will have their social media accounts deactivated. This includes Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, X, Snapchat and Reddit who said they would comply and some have even started deactivating accounts as early as December 4th. Social media companies will have to take extra precautions to make sure users under 16 can’t make an account on their platforms and that any existing accounts are deleted. They will be responsible for enforcing the ban and will be paying fines of up to 49.5 Australian dollars (about $32 million) for serious or repeated violations. Parents and children won’t be punished for any violations.

A broad number of people in Australia support the ban, about 77% of people favor it.They believe it will encourage kids to focus more on in person interactions and boost their social skills. They also believe the ban will prevent children from encountering inappropriate content and predators. According to an article by NBC News a national study in Australia was commissioned this year which states, “Seven out of 10 of them have been exposed to harmful content and behavior, including misogynistic material, fight videos and content promoting eating disorders and suicide”(Dobson Dec 9). In the same article results showed 1 of 7 children report grooming like behavior from adults and older kids and more than half have reported being victims of cyber bullying.

Though Australia did ban social media for people undeaged, it doesn’t stop them from trying to find loop holes in the system. It took less than 5 minutes for 13-year old Isobel to outsmart the ban According to the article on BBC, after getting notification from Snapchat that she would be banned if she couldn’t she was 16+ she stated that, “”I got a photo of my mum, and I stuck it in front of the camera and it just let me through. It said thanks for verifying your age,” Isobel claims. “I’ve heard someone used Beyoncé’s face,” she adds” (Turnbull Dec 6). Because of incidents like this there has been a rising concern about how the social platforms are enforcing the ban, as well as pushing others into darker, less-regulated corners of the web. The question still lingers in households across Australia. Will this work?