Australia began enforcing a social media ban for kids under the age of 16. CBS News' Ramy Inocencio reports.

Council of the City of Sydney

Australia has enacted a pioneering law that bans children under 16 from accessing social media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat. The ban, which aims to address concerns over youth mental health and social media addiction, is being enforced with significant penalties for non-compliance by tech companies.

The new regulation has prompted backlash from some teenagers, who argue it infringes on their freedom of communication, and two 15-year-olds have taken the matter to Australia's highest court. The outcome of this legal challenge is being monitored by officials and parents globally, as other countries consider similar measures.

Australian teens challenge country's social media ban for kids under 16

Welcome back a Democrat will run the city of Miami for the first time in almost three decades Eileen Higgins won the runoff yesterday in her victory speech last night Higgins said voters chose a quote new direction Tonight history was made you chose competence over chaos Results over excuses and a city government that finally works for you I Lean Higgins served as a member of the Miami-Dade County Commission from 2018 to 2025 She defeated Republican opponent Emilio Gonzalez who had previously worked as Miami City manager and chief administrative officer In addition to being the city's first Democratic mayor in 28 years She will also be the first woman to ever hold the job All right The world first social media ban for children under the age of 16 is now in effect in Australia major apps Impacted include tik-tok Instagram and snapchat But there are many others CBS News foreign correspondent Ramey and no sensio is here with more on this Ramey Good morning young young Australians now wrapping up their first day without access to a number of major apps any sign of withdrawals Just yet a lot of sign of withdrawals Errol No surprise many Aussie teams are complaining saying that they're gonna find a hack around I mean didn't we all try to find a hack around right? Some say it is their only social lifeline in the countryside the big outback Others actually say they do understand it and the catalyst for this whole band the head of the state of South Australia His name is Peter Malinowski has told me that he is proud. Here's some of my conversation with him just a short time ago Over the last 10 years We've in effect been having a global experiment. It's had consequences in terms of how people engage with another it's had consequences in terms of The dramatic and extraordinary spike in the rates of childhood depression and anxiety that we definitively now Know through peer-reviewed research is linked to social media addiction and overuse Because many of these platforms have had addictive algorithms. Is there a story that comes to mind when you think? Yeah, I remember that story and that really inspires me. I think of a gentleman by the name of Wayne Holdsworth Whose son took his life? To his own life in no small part because the treatment that he was receiving Online and social media had a role to play in that And these stories break your heart, but feels like it's just gone a bridge too far There is criticism that this is government's overreach. What do you say to that? What's really been the source of overreach here is major tech companies investing in Huge sums of money to industrialize and then monetize Addiction of young people now people will find ways around it and lots of things will go wrong and and that will be Highlighted in coming days and weeks in Australia, but on balance This is a reform that parents want so they can do their job more easily The penalty for social media companies is 50 million Australian dollars. That's about 33 million US dollars and meta Had a profit of more than 60 billion dollars So I'm just gonna say 33 million from that perspective is a drop in the bucket. They might say hey, you know, whatever Well, if they break the law of impunity They can expect our parliaments to respond if social media companies or anybody else seems to deliberately ignore it Or not comply then the consequences will ratchet up inevitably What we see though thus far frankly is a willingness for social media companies to comply All we're doing is saying your kids you can't have social media so heaven forbid they might talk to one another a bit more pick up the phone and have a chat rather than just Being obsessed with the screen much of the credit of all of this happening goes to my my wife She read a book called the anxious generation by Jonathan Haidt And I'll never forget the night she finished reading the book and she put it down her lap and she turned to me and said you better do something about this and I would invite any parent to read that book just to understand the necessity for this change and They'll soon saying why we've done this in Australia and Malinowska's told me that he's already met with officials from North America to Europe and Asia who are Interested in what happens in Australia, though There's already a legal challenge to 15 year olds are taking this ban to the highest court in the country They say that this violates their right to freedom of communication basically the freedom of expression So we are all clearly watching to see how this plays out Teens parents and governments all around the world because it affects so many yeah And it's fascinating to watch this happen in real time Ramy. Thanks so much great conversation there

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Australia's social media ban takes effect for kids under 16

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