Australia adds Twitch to its teen social media ban

Australia's teen social media ban has been extended to include the streaming platform Twitch where gamers go to watch others live streaming gameplay. The teen account ban is due to come into force on December 10 and requires tech companies to take reasonable steps to stop under-16s from opening accounts, while existing accounts must be closed.

The goal behind the ban is to reduce the pressures and risks, including harmful content, that children could be exposed to on social media. The ban will prevent kids accessing Twitch, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, Reddit, Kick, Threads, and X. Interestingly, it doesn't include a certain new technology that people are increasingly using - artificial intelligence.

Twitch is a popular platform with gamers. It is owned by the ecommerce giant, Amazon, and was included because its main purpose is online social interaction. If you are under 16, you will be prevented from making an account there from December 10, while existing accounts will be deactivated from January 9.

Once the rule comes into effect, companies are expected to use measures like government IDs, face or voice recognition, or age inference (estimating age through online behavior) to grant access to those old enough to use the platforms. If a company fails to implement these rules, they face fines of up to $49.5 million Australian dollars (US$32 million).

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, and Threads has said that it will begin closing accounts of teenagers under 16 from December 4, ahead of the official ban so that it doesn't leave things too late and get fined. Interestingly, there is one popular social media platform that is not affected by the ban right now, and that is Pinterest. It was decided that Pinterest is more about collating images for inspiration and idea curation rather than online social interaction.

The social media ban is an attempt to reduce online harms and negative impact on children's mental health. The government hopes that the measures help to cut out cyberbullying too. It will be interesting to see what impact this has on the lives of kids in the country. Will they start playing outside more like kids growing up in the 1990s and 2000s or will they turn to artificial intelligence and have an unhealthy relationship with a large language model? Only time will tell.

Source: BBC News

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Posted Saturday 22 November 2025 at 4:18 am AEST (my time).

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