Censorship or Protection: Australia’s New Social Media Ban
Censorship or Protection: Australia’s New Social Media Ban
Lauren Badger
A new ban was instituted on December 10th, 2025 in Australia that caused social media accounts belonging to people under 16 across platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube, Tiktok, and more to be shut down. Across the country, parents, students and kids and the owners of social apps themselves have formed strong opinions. Parents are grateful for the help of regulating their kids' usage of social media, preventing them from experiencing harmful events online. The youth worry about free speech and democracy as well as communications with friends and the rest of the world.
Regulating their children’s usage and presence on the internet has become a major struggle for parents in the past couple of years. We have seen the increase of iPad kids and screenagers skyrocket as social media becomes a daily tool for communication, research and connection. Having limited knowledge of social media, many parents feel positive about the ban, describing the hopelessness they felt before about placing restrictions on their own children.
However, the kids affected by this law are conflicted. Some have already begun to notice the negative effects of excessive internet
usage. Conflicting feelings from students include discussing wanting to delete Snapchat and alternatively not wanting to be left out. Students fear not being able to communicate with others, yet they feel as though the ban will be a turn for the better as it would increase social interactions in person rather than online. Other youth feel as though the ban is stripping away their autonomy, and limiting their free speech. Many kids today find their community online, communicating with others within that group for support and friendship. School counselors have reflected on this, saying that by banning social media apps for anyone under 16 may increase isolation. Sam Kelly, a senior I interviewed regarding this, mentioned that limitations on social media would have been a healthier option, “teenagers should have access to social media to learn how to properly navigate but also have access to different communities that they may not have in their own area. Limitations on explicit content, like gore or adult content, should be enforced, but access to social media should not be banned because online communities can provide support as well as teach kids how to properly manage their online presence.” Especially with our rapid, ever evolving usage of technology, learning how to navigate that world is very important to upcoming generations.
Although Australia is setting the precedent for future regulations against social media to protect young people, it may not have great effects on those upcoming generations. The balance between the pros and cons of the Australian social media ban may only become apparent once it has continued for a substantial amount of time.