From 10 December 2025, anyone under 16 in Australia won’t be able to keep or make accounts on social media apps like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, X, Facebook and more. The rule doesn’t punish young people or their families, instead, social media companies have to stop under-16s from having accounts or risk serious fines (up to about $50 million).

Agree or not, at least the punishment is dished out to the proper entity.

That will teach a whole generation of young hackers how to circumvent this...

Honestly, that doesn't sound so bad, compared to what social media does to children. The combination of feed manipulation and content poisoning has devastating effects on the emotional wellbeing even adults. I hope that they get preoccupied on hacking their way onto those sites, rather than on their contents. This is notwithstanding the serious privacy concerns that this age-based ban raises.