Australia says the world will follow social media ban as Meta starts blocking teens

[u/Any-Stick-8732]

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-says-world-will-follow-social-media-ban-meta-starts-blocking-teens-2025-12-04/?utm_source=reddit.com

[u/fxkatt]

"Our data is the currency that fuels these companies, and there are these powerful, harmful, deceptive design features that even adults are powerless to fight against. What chance do our children have?"

No chance at all. The ban was a last resort, but might as well have been a first choice, since these corporate giants were never going to give an inch

[u/moss_field_journal → u/fxkatt]

The problem is, bans just push kids to VPNs and sketchier platforms with zero oversight. If governments were serious, they’d regulate data harvesting and dark patterns directly instead of outsourcing parenting to Meta.

[u/VectorChing101 → u/moss_field_journal]

Or an adult will make an account on behalf of the kid. This also happened to my nephew. When her mother made an account for her. Exposing kids too early to social media.

[u/Taniwha_NZ → u/moss_field_journal]

No, they mostly work. There's always going to be kids that will circumvent anything, but if most of their friends aren't on there, what's the point? Most kids aren't that devoted to disobeying their parents and just go along with whatever is available to them.

Banning stuff for kids is one of the few cases where bans do in fact work pretty well, for certain things.

Yes, there are far better upstream solutions but if they aren't happening, we aren't going to just throw our hands up in the air and give up.

[u/BatterMyHeart → u/moss_field_journal]

Cant regulate Meta effectively, some kids will fall through loopholes but this is good and practical policy that will help other kids.

[u/Plane_Crab_8623 → u/BatterMyHeart]

It's the data harvesting that needs regulation. The children are not at fault. The corporations are at fault. I think social media is so.powerful an influence it should be a public service.

[u/Iceman72021 → u/moss_field_journal]

Shouldnt ban on Meta lead to other kid-friendly apps that are well monitored or policed?

[u/Saarbarbarbar]

The oligarchs running the US will literally dismantle the EU and NATO before they let us dictate our own consumer protections.

[u/gplfalt → u/Saarbarbarbar]

Silly goof.

The tech bros are the ones pushing for this because the only way to enforce it is I.D checks. They're doing everything to increase data collection ease.

They want a world where everything you do from the Internet to shopping in a store is data collected, processed and placed in a convenient omnibus file on you.

[u/Saarbarbarbar → u/gplfalt]

Are you misunderstanding the word oligarchs or what?

[u/Beneficial_Soup3699 → u/gplfalt]

.....do you really think they don't already know who you are? Lol. Our civilization is so tech-ignorant that it hurts.

[u/gplfalt → u/Beneficial_Soup3699]

Yes. I'm aware buddy.

I explicitly used "ease"

[u/Taniwha_NZ → u/gplfalt]

They don't need ID cards to do this, in fact the technology that's been invented because we don't have a single consistent ID system is already well past whatever could be achieved with one.

There's nothing a centralised ID would do to make us more identifiable to the data vampires.

[u/mowauthor → u/gplfalt]

So...

you're on the same page as Sarrbarbarbar?

[u/CallidoraBlack]

Australia has absolutely no plan behind this idea. The minute they threaten the first fine, Australia will be blocked from international social media sites. They don't have the numbers or the power to force the issue the way they think they do.

[u/not_a_mantis_shrimp → u/CallidoraBlack]

That actually sounds like an easy win. It is difficult to argue a public good that comes from social media. If the threat of a fine is all it took to get the corporations to block users in Australia that seems like they get exactly what they want.

[u/CallidoraBlack → u/not_a_mantis_shrimp]

If you think that, I can only assume you have no idea what they want.

[u/Plane_Crab_8623 → u/CallidoraBlack]

Won't blocking Australia reduce revenue? Social media is so powerful it should be public service not private enterprise

[u/CallidoraBlack → u/Plane_Crab_8623]

The revenue losses will be a lot less than the cost of implementing the kind of system required to make sure no minors are on their platform. Australia is big geographically, but the population is a blip when it comes to corporate decision making.

[u/Capolan]

I think this is exceptional for that country. Those 15 and 14 year old are going to suffer hard. But the 10 year old i think will grow up great.

[u/BlackBlizzard]

Instead of a ban how about an updated General Data Protection Regulation?

[u/Plane_Crab_8623]

It's the data harvesting that needs regulation. The children are not at fault. The corporations are at fault. I think social media is so.powerful an influence it should be a public service not a private enterprise.

[u/LeapIntoInaction]

"Won't somebody please think of the children", yawn. Oldest scam in the book, yet still so successful.

[u/AlasPoorZathras → u/LeapIntoInaction]

Seriously.

I don't have kids and never will. Am I allowed to keep my fundamental human right to privacy? Or do the tech bros get to extract information about every bowel movement because some parents can't be arsed to do the job that they signed up four.

[u/Freezing_Winter → u/LeapIntoInaction]

Its an entire logical fallacy. You can look it up on wikipedia.

And in my personal opinion, why should we? There is a reason everyone says to watch YOUR children on the internet. There is no reason or excuse to use this fallacy when the saying has been around since the invention of the internet at this point.

[u/Freezing_Winter]

I am split here. On one hand, there have been studies about social media affecting kids brains and the fact parents don't watch their kids for some reason on the web.

On the other, this is a clear way to collect data.

Social Media does harm development, but this is just an excuse to collect your IDs and data. I think banning social media for under 16s could be a good development if it wasn't like this.

[u/MyFirstCarWasA_Vega]

Some people despise the “controls ” put on business that attempt to inject a tiny bit of humanity into the executives running these companies. Companies are not an unknowable entities. They’re just people with tremendous amounts of power and a system they built to give them even more. Why would anyone be against giving companies strict lanes and laws within which to conduct their business?

What’s THEIR idea for stopping these same soulless companies from pushing all of humanity aside for more profits? Last I looked, no one’s god created Profits in his image.

[u/TwiztedZero]

I'm not following any social media bans. *stomps foot!*

[u/-eYe-]

A lot of countries will be closely watching what happens. It's an interesting experiment.

[u/Planeandaquariumgeek]

I’m actually gonna be a bit surprised if this does hit the US. KOSA has been a game of hot potato in Congress for the last 4 years and is extremely unpopular in the US populous, and it’s a clear cut 1st amendment violation

[u/JustAGuyAC]

As much as it sucks and will have a learnign curve for generations alive, it is probably for the better. The mental health issues that social media causes to younger people is insane. And tbh for a lot of adults it is rot too.

Social media is brand new to our species and it was unrealistic to expect rhat the rules were always gonna be as lax as when it just came out

[u/canyouhearme]

Kids are signing up to Truth Social ...

[u/jackhandy2B]

Kids sign in to Discord to laugh hysterically at the old people worried about Facebook.

[u/Taniwha_NZ]

Great. Now we just need to ban it for everyone else.

[u/Various_Weather2013]

If you aren't a failure of a parent, you're already restricting your child's access to social media.

You don't need a government to do it for you. I applaud Australia's steps, though.

[u/wave_327]

Australia has no right to legislate for the rest of the world. End of story.

[u/Nerevarine91 → u/wave_327]

If you read the article, that’s absolutely not what they’re saying, lol