Australian social media ban, day one: so far I have not been carded

11 December 2025

Not that I’m under the age of sixteen of course.

But say what you will about it, the social media ban for Australians under the age of sixteen is now in force. Already some of those effected are claiming to have circumvented the restrictions. That shouldn’t surprise anyone.

If anyone’s gong to figure out how to do something they shouldn’t be doing, it’ll be teenagers.

Going around the socials, I’ve so far noticed little difference to anything. I logged into Instagram, Threads, and Facebook without incident. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. As Cam Wilson, writing for Crickey points out, “they already know your age with some accuracy.”

Nothing to report with Mastodon to date. The only exception has been Bluesky, where I was asked to supply my date of birth, but not for proof. Bluesky advised though I might need to verify my age to access certain features. I imagine that refers to content that might be deemed for adults only.

But let’s see what happens in the coming days.

UPDATE: Australian journalist and pod-caster Stilgherrian, on Bluesky no less:

One correction. The teens can still *access* social media media to view things. They just can’t have accounts to be able to post or respond. They can’t have the social part of social media, just the media part.

Also noteworthy, I was able to locate his Bluesky post, and page, via a search engine query, on a device not logged into any social media accounts, on an Australian IP address. That’s a selective social media ban for sure.

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