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Millions of teenagers banned from social media

ABC Listen

Presented by Angus Randall Annie Guest Fri 16 Jan 2026 at 8:00am

The Federal government says 4.7 million social media accounts have been deactivated in the first month of its ban on teenagers. 

It’s the first ban of its kind in the world, and other countries are watching closely.

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UK planning to ban social media for kids under 16

It took Cruz Condren about a week to lose his Snapchat account, and a few seconds to get it back. “It asked me to verify my age by a camera,” says the 14-year-old from the Gold Coast. “I just asked my mum to scan her face because she’s over 18. It just let me back on.” Six months after Australia became the first country to ban under 16s from social media, Cruz’s workaround – performed with his mother’s blessing – is the kind of evidence now being weighed in London, Brussels and Ottawa as governments decide whether to copy Australia’s experiment or learn from its mistakes.

Australia banned under-16s from social media. The world is split on whether to follow

It took Cruz Condren about a week to lose his Snapchat account, and a few seconds to get it back. “It asked me to verify my age by a camera,” says the 14-year-old from the Gold Coast. “I just asked my mum to scan her face because she’s over 18. It just let me back on.” Six months after Australia became the first country to ban under 16s from social media, Cruz’s workaround – performed with his mother’s blessing – is the kind of evidence now being weighed in London, Brussels and Ottawa as governments decide whether to copy Australia’s experiment or learn from its mistakes.

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It’s six months since the young people’s social media ban was applied. So how’s it going?

It’s been six months since the ban on social media took effect in Australia for children under the age of 16. Since then, a growing number of countries have been taking steps to follow suit. Experts point to the ban’s positive effects, but what do the teenagers think?