How will Australia’s under-16s social media ban be enforced, and which platforms will be exempt?
Australians using a range of social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and X will need to have their age checked to ensure they are 16 or older when the social media ban comes into effect from early December,Sign up: AU Breaking News emailHow will it work? And what information will people need to hand over?From 10 December, new laws will apply to platforms that meet the government’s definition of an “age-restricted social media platform”, which has the sole or significant purpose of enabling social interaction with two or more users, and which allows users to post material on the service,The government has not specified by name any platforms that will be included in the ban, meaning any site that meets the above definition could be included except if they meet the exemptions released on Wednesday,The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has said that the covered platforms include – but are not limited to – Facebook, Instagram, X, Snapchat, and YouTube,The communications minister, Anika Wells, said these platforms would be expected to take reasonable steps to deactivate accounts for users under 16, prevent children registering new accounts, check ages, and also prevent workarounds to bypass the restrictions.
The government said platforms would be exempt if they had the primary purpose of:Messaging, emailing, voice calling or video callingPlaying online gamesSharing information about products or servicesProfessional networking or professional developmentEducationHealthCommunication between educational institutions and students or their familiesFacilitating communication between providers of healthcare and people using those providers’ servicesIt will be up to the eSafety commissioner to determine which platforms meet the criteria for an exemption.In practice, this means that LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Roblox, and Coursera would likely be exempt if assessed to meet the criteria.LinkedIn had previously argued to the government it was not of interest to children.In theory, it could also mean YouTube Kids could be exempt from the ban if it meets the criteria for an exemption, given it does not allow comments on videos.But the government has not confirmed this, and YouTube has not commented on whether it would seek an exemption for its service designed for children.
Platforms that have not been named by the government but do not meet the exemption criteria will also need to consider whether they need to bring in age assurance by December.This would include services such as Bluesky, Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform, Discord and Twitch.A common misconception about the social media ban is that it will only apply to children.In order to ensure teenagers remain off social media, the platforms will need to check the ages of all user accounts in Australia.How they will do that is not prescribed, but it will be informed by the outcome of the age assurance technology trial, the full report of which is due in August.
The government has legislated that although ID checks can be one form of age assurance, it can’t be the only one accepted.It is expected Australia will follow a similar path for age assurance that launched in the UK in July, which includes options such as:Allowing banks and mobile providers to confirm a user is over 18Asking site users to upload a photo that is then matched with photo IDUse of facial age estimation technologyIn addition to that, platforms could infer user ages based on account behaviour or age.For example, if you signed up for Facebook in 2009, you would be over 16 by now.YouTube has also flagged it will use artificial intelligence to determine user ages.Albanese has compared the social media ban to alcohol restrictions, and said there will no doubt be children who manage to get around the ban, but he argued it was still worth doing.
In the UK, where age verification was brought in this week for accessing pornography websites, there has been a surge in people using virtual private networks (VPNs), which hide a user’s real location, enabling access to blocked websites.Four of the top five free apps on the Apple app store in the UK on Thursday were VPN apps, with Proton, the most popular, reporting a 1,800% increase in downloads.The Australian government has said it expects the platforms will implement “reasonable steps” to account for how teens may seek to avoid the ban.Platforms that do not take what the eSafety commissioner determines to be “reasonable steps” to keep kids off their service can face a fine of up to $49.5m that will be determined in the federal court.
What “reasonable steps” means will be up to the commissioner to determine.When asked on Wednesday, Wells said: “I think reasonable steps is reasonable.“These are meant to be working rules, and they also need to sort of correct any errors as they arise.Because these are not set-and-forget rules, these are set-and-support rules.They are world-leading.
But this is manifestly too important for us not to have a crack.”
England v India: fifth men’s cricket Test, day two – as it happened
Ali Martin’s reportThe end of a pretty remarkable day at The Oval. Only 75 overs were bowled, but in that time we saw 342 runs, 16 wickets and thousands of Thorpey headbands.India, who looked a beaten team during a bruising the morning session, showed extraordinary resilience to fight back and then edge ahead in the game. They were inspired by Mohammed Siraj, who took out England’s entire middle order across two superb spells.England need something similar from Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue or Jamie Overton tomorrow morning
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Friday morning at the Oval, and the ground reverberates to a unique but not unfamiliar sound, the baritone rumble of thousands of pained groans. It was prompted by replays on the ground’s big screens of a particular kind of delivery with a very specific outcome, on this occasion bowled by Akash Deep. The ball flicked off the inside of Ben Duckett’s thigh before crashing remorselessly into, well, the next part of his anatomy that it reached, and with agonising results.The game was paused for several minutes while the pain subsided and the opener regained his composure (the blow certainly didn’t make him at all cautious, and by the end of that one over Duckett had survived a review for lbw, skipped down the track and missed completely with a wild swing, seen a leading edge drop short of gully and reverse-scooped for six).On Thursday evening a very different sound had been heard, Chris Woakes’ cries of pain after he landed awkwardly on his left shoulder having flicked a ball back from the boundary edge, close to the press box at the Vauxhall End
Tommy Freeman hands Lions major injury scare on eve of third Australia Test
Tommy Freeman has handed the British & Irish Lions a major injury doubt before their third Test against Australia. The 24-year-old winger, who has started the first two Tests, sat out the captain’s run on Friday and it is understood he is struggling with a back injury. The Lions are targeting a first clean sweep since 1927 and a first unbeaten series since 1974.On Friday the Lions were adamant that Freeman would be fit to play in Sydney, claiming his absence was down to his workload being managed. It is understood, however, that contingency plans have been drawn up that could see Huw Jones moved to the wing and Owen Farrell coming into the starting XV
Tour de France Femmes 2025: Squiban storms to another win on stage seven – as it happened
An amazing second stage win from Maëva Squiban in as many days. As Dani Rowe said on TNT Sports: “She played her cards to perfection.” Thank you for reading the live blog today and for your messages. It was a pleasure to cover today’s exciting and dramatic racing. Join me on Saturday and Sunday for the final stages of this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift
Tour de France Femmes: Squiban sends home fans wild with second stage win
Maëva Squiban fuelled joyous scenes in the Haute-Savoie, winning the first high mountain stage of the 2025 Tour de France Femmes in Chambéry, just 24 hours after taking victory in stage six in Ambert.The French rider, who celebrated draped in a Breton flag, was part of a 13-rider breakaway that splintered on the first climb, the Côte de Saint-Franc and then gradually dwindled as the gradients started to bite.Squiban, a former French junior champion when 15 years old, finally shed her last companion, Mareille Meijering, 2km from the top of the Col du Granier and accelerated clear alone.“At the start, I made a joke about attacking again,” she said, “but in the end it wasn’t a joke.”On the fast descent of the Granier, overlooking Chambéry, Squiban, nudging 80km/h on the narrow road, again held off the pursuing group of race favourites, including the defending champion Kasia Niewiadoma and rival Demi Vollering, to take successive stage wins
Glorious Goodwood: Jm Jungle too speedy for classy King George rivals
Three of the dozen runners in the Group Two King George Stakes at Goodwood on Friday had a Group One success to their name and all but one had at least run in a Group-class contest, but there is often only a small gap for the best sprint handicappers to bridge when they step into Pattern company and Jm Jungle, the Group-race debutant, proved the point once again with a 14-1 victory in the afternoon’s feature event.The field was reduced to 11 at the start when Clarendon House planted himself in the stalls, but Jm Jungle, with winner of the “Dash” Handicap at Epsom on Derby day over the fastest five-furlong course in the country, was soon helping to set a strong pace. The Australian-trained mare, Asfoora, a Group One winner at Royal Ascot last summer, made a brief attempt to challenge against the far rail while She’s Quality finished fast down the middle, but Jm Jungle and Jason Hart had just enough left to hold on for a neck success.It was a second win in the race in the space of three years for the John and Sean Quinn stable, successful in 2023 with the hugely popular Highfield Princess.“It was easier watching Highfield Princess because she never looked like getting beat,” Sean Quinn said
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