You will need ID to browse social media in Australia
Australia has banned under 16s from accessing social media and made it the responsibility of social media companies to enforce it!
At a stroke of the Governor General’s pen Australia banned social media for under 16s. The law itself goes into effect on the 10th of December 2025, and aims to protect young users from online threats, such as cyber bullying, grooming and other illicit activity. However, the law itself raises questions around free political speech , privacy and the fairness of ministerial discretion.
A Summary of the Ban.
The Online Safety Amendment (social media minimum age) Act 2024 holds platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook responsible to prevent to stop under 16s from creating or maintaining accounts on their platforms. It goes further to define social media applications more broadly.
Any electronic service that meets the following criteria are defined as age restricted social media:
- the sole or significant purpose of the service is to enable online social interaction between two or more end-users;
- the service allows end-users to link or interact with other end-users; and
- the service allows end-users to post material on the service.
This definition includes messaging services including text-messaging, file sharing, forums, and even airdrop. The use of the word “significant,” ensures that any kind of marketplace also falls under this definition.
Companies that do not comply with the rules will face fines of up to $49.5 million. This is enforced by the e-safety commissioner who has the power to compel organisations to reveal how they comply with the regulations.
Why Was It Introduced?
The legislation was introduced in response to growing concerns about social media's impact on youth mental health, including anxiety, depression, and exposure to harmful content. Beyond mental health there has been a huge increase in cyberbullying, online child predators, and destructive addictive behaviours such as gambling.
Of the strategies implemented around the world this has been one of the most stringent. The enforcement of fines for failing to have a valid strategy ie. not a simple button press of, “I am over 16,” is pretty much the first serious attempt at enforcing age restrictions on the internet.
How Will It Work?
The law penalises social media companies, if they do not enforce robust age verification systems. Further they must not use government id (passport, driver’s licenses or other official id to enforce this ban. In short there is no current guidance on how this can be done.
What this means is that social media organisations and potentially any site with social media or marketplaces will have to profile every user and confirm authoritatively that they are over 16. There is no way to do this currently. Stay tuned though Cyber and Me will present a solution for this idea soon.
Reactions and Controversies
The law had bipartisan support in parliament and the public however among academics and industry it had far less support. The concerns they raised are the scope of these laws, the impact on free speech, as well as the overreach of organisations into privacy.
Australia’s constitution does not have a bill of rights, and the government can create laws unless explicitly disallowed by the constitution. This means that within the scope of our analysis any challenges to this law will be unsuccessful in the High Court. Further challenges on the implied freedom of speech will also be unsuccessful as the law blocks only “social media” and not those offering counselling or political thought. It is unclear if a news site with comments will be affected now, however it is unlikely as a significant part of the business is not social media.
The final and much more concerning controversy is ministerial discretion in providing exemptions. The government has already exempted Youtube which is a video sharing site with commentary and community features. The only significant difference between Youtube and Tiktok is primarily ownership. Therefore, the question arises why was one blocked and not the other? The courts may step in to ensure procedural fairness when or if these laws are challenged.
Conclusion
The under 16s social media ban is a world first and Australia is rushing headlong into uncharted waters. There is no solution that adequately address the demands presented by these laws. The laws themselves are problematic in what they aim to do, however there is widespread political and public support for the enforcement of these laws.
In short yes and no, you will need id to access social media. However Cyber and Me will provide a solution on how to address this in a way without harming your privacy as this law becomes enforced out on the 10th of December 2025. We suspect most places will not be ready for this significant change.