{"id":9725,"date":"2026-07-18T16:36:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9725"},"modified":"2026-07-18T16:36:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T11:36:28","slug":"what-the-world-should-learn-from-australias-social-media-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9725","title":{"rendered":"What the World Should Learn from Australia\u2019s Social Media Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"paragraph-content\">\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-element\" class=\"rich-text mb-6 font-graphik text-body-large text-black-coffee focus-visible:outline focus-visible:outline-black-coffee focus-visible:outline-2 focus-visible:outline-offset-2 focus-visible:shadow-focus-color text-left\">The truth is far more encouraging. There are several promising trends that other countries are now building upon, reflecting the importance of Australia\u2019s pioneering policies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-element\" class=\"rich-text mb-6 font-graphik text-body-large text-black-coffee focus-visible:outline focus-visible:outline-black-coffee focus-visible:outline-2 focus-visible:outline-offset-2 focus-visible:shadow-focus-color text-left\">It started with a relatively smooth rollout. All 10 platforms took steps to verify users&#8217; ages and remove accounts of those under 16. Now, fewer kids in the land down under are using social media, and more than a dozen other countries, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/item\/global-legal-monitor\/2026-03-12\/indonesia-regulation-introduces-age-restrictions-for-social-media-platforms\" title=\"undefined\" target=\"undefined\">Indonesia<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/canadian-heritage\/services\/safe-social-media-act.html\" title=\"undefined\" target=\"undefined\">Canada<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.malaymail.com\/news\/malaysia\/2026\/06\/01\/malaysias-under-16-social-media-rule-starts-today-what-parents-need-to-know\/221674\" title=\"undefined\" target=\"undefined\">Malaysia<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.traveldailymedia.com\/uae-social-media-ban-to-fuel-boom-in-screen-free-wellbeing-tourism\/\" title=\"undefined\" target=\"undefined\">the UAE<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/world\/french-lawmakers-approve-ban-on-social-media-for-kids-under-15\" title=\"undefined\" target=\"undefined\">France<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c5y2nddvmryo\" title=\"undefined\" target=\"undefined\">Spain<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/fact-sheet-new-rules-to-protect-children-online\/fact-sheet-new-rules-to-protect-children-online\" title=\"undefined\" target=\"undefined\">the U.K.<\/a>, are beginning their own journeys to rein in social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-element\" class=\"rich-text mb-6 font-graphik text-body-large text-black-coffee focus-visible:outline focus-visible:outline-black-coffee focus-visible:outline-2 focus-visible:outline-offset-2 focus-visible:shadow-focus-color text-left\">The world is, and should, follow Oz\u2019s lead.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-element\" class=\"rich-text mb-6 font-graphik text-body-large text-black-coffee focus-visible:outline focus-visible:outline-black-coffee focus-visible:outline-2 focus-visible:outline-offset-2 focus-visible:shadow-focus-color text-left\">When Australia\u2019s law went into effect last December, 10 social media platforms\u2014Facebook, Kick, Reddit, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, Instagram, Snapchat, X, and YouTube\u2014removed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esafety.gov.au\/newsroom\/media-releases\/platforms-restrict-access-to-47-million-under-16-accounts-across-australia\" title=\"undefined\" target=\"undefined\">4.7 million<\/a> under-16 accounts belonging to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/world\/social-media-platforms-removed-4-7-million-accounts-after-australia-banned-them-for-children-younger-than-16\" title=\"undefined\" target=\"undefined\">estimated<\/a> 2.5 million Aussies between the ages of eight and 15.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p data-testid=\"paragraph-element\" class=\"rich-text mb-6 font-graphik text-body-large text-black-coffee focus-visible:outline focus-visible:outline-black-coffee focus-visible:outline-2 focus-visible:outline-offset-2 focus-visible:shadow-focus-color text-left\">To be sure, that does not mean that these kids can\u2019t access social media altogether, since many likely have several accounts across platforms. But it shows that the law made immediate progress and compelled platforms to take action on a massive scale.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The truth is far more encouraging. There are several promising trends that other countries are now building upon, reflecting the importance of Australia\u2019s pioneering policies.\u00a0 It started with a relatively smooth rollout. All 10 platforms took steps to verify users&#8217; ages and remove accounts of those under 16. Now, fewer kids in the land down&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static.time.com\/v3\/assets\/bltea6093859af6183b\/bltb646cfa2984c71f1\/6a5a422025e8785a3dda4ed9\/weekend-essay-social-media.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}