What Australia’s Social Media Kids Ban Means for Tech

Teenagers in Melbourne, Australia, on their phones. Photo by Getty.

While U.S. tech executives were tucking into their turkey on Thursday or guzzling Koia shakes, Australian lawmakers were approving a law that bans children under 16 from having a social media account. Whoa! Australia is a relatively small country whose revenue contribution to Meta Platforms, Snap or TikTok is likely minuscule. But investors have to consider the possibility that the land Down Under is the canary in the coal mine of social media regulation.

After all, the Australian law is a more aggressive variation on laws passed by many U.S. states over the past couple of years, all aimed at protecting children from the worst of social media. The U.S. state laws vary widely: some states, such as Tennessee, require social media firms to verify that parents consent to their children having an account. Age verification, to ensure social media firms know when a child holds an account, is becoming more common. (Here’s a summary of state laws, passed and pending.)