Overview
- Enforcement begins Wednesday, with major platforms freezing or deactivating accounts they identify as being run by users under 16.
- The law compels platforms to block new sign-ups by under-16s and to disable existing accounts, with multimillion-dollar fines for noncompliance.
- Officials cite Australian data showing 96% of 10–15-year-olds use social media and that seven in ten have encountered harmful content, including violence, misogyny, eating-disorder material and suicide-related messages.
- Meta and YouTube criticize the policy as counterproductive, warning of lost parental controls and difficult age verification that raises privacy and anonymity concerns.
- Governments in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, the UK and Spain are weighing similar steps, and the European Commission is testing an age-verification app as global attention focuses on Australia's approach.