Australia enforces world-first ban on social media access for teens

Meanwhile chat app Discord Inc., which isn't subject to the ban, said Tuesday it is enhancing safety features for users in Australia

Australia’s social media ban for youths took effect Wednesday, a landmark move that’s drawn global attention at a time governments are increasingly enacting rules to shield minors from toxic content and cyberbullying.  

The law, passed last year, mandates services such as ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and Meta Platforms Inc.’s Instagram keep under-16s off their platforms or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($33 million). Australia becomes the world’s first democracy to undertake such a crackdown in response to growing concerns about social media’s harms. 

It’s likely to be the first of many. Policymakers in Indonesia, Denmark, Brazil and other nations