Australia: Kangaroos and Putting Kids in a Secure Pouch

December 17, 2025

Australia became the first country in the world to ban social media for kids under sixteen. They did it in a bid to protect the younger sect from addictive behaviors, online bullies, and predators. CNN details the ban in, “Millions Of Australian Children Just Lost Access To Social Media. What’s Happening And Will It Work?”

The ten platforms that are banned for under sixteen kids are, X, Twitch, Reddit, Kick, TikTok, Snapchat, Threats, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

The ban will be implemented using age-verification technology, but the platforms don’t believe it will make kids safer. The Australian prime minister believes differently:

“Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was a “proud day” for Australia. ‘This is the day when Australian families are taking back power from these big tech companies. They are asserting the right of kids to be kids and for parents to have greater peace of mind,’ Albanese told the public broadcaster ABC Wednesday. But he conceded ‘it won’t be simple.’”

The platforms will use age-verification technology such as video selfies, email addresses, or official documents. The video selfies use facial data points to estimate age.

There are workarounds such as parents creating accounts for their kids and backup social media companies. People are saying it’s a game of whack-a-mole that the Australian government won’t win. There aren’t any punishments for parents who do make accounts for kids.

A follow up from The Nightly says, “Australian Under-16s Social Media Ban: Kids Claim Ban Didn’t Work As They Troll Anthony Albanese On TikTok.” The younger sect took to TikTok and did what kids do best: make fun of the incident. They’re trolling the Prime Minister with memes, videos, comments, and anything else to prove the ban isn’t working.

There are kinks to still work out, but maybe the ban will work. Some youngsters have good technical know how. Work arounds are inevitable. Even baby roos leave the pouch.

Whitney Grace, December 17, 2025

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under Government, News, Social Media

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.