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Instagram, TikTok, X and More Social Media Platforms Are Banned in Australia for Children Under 16

Like your offline friend, teenagers in Australia may soon have to get their meme debriefs from BuzzFeed instead of straight from the source. 

On Thursday, Nov. 28, the Australian Senate passed a sweeping bill that will ban social media for children 16 and under. This is a world-first law, and tech companies must act fast. The bill gives social media platforms like Meta-owned Instagram and Facebook, X, TikTok Snapchat and Reddit one year to figure out how to align their platforms with the new legislation. Failure to do so could result in fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars ($33 million).

The Australian government announced its plans to institute an age limit for social media on Nov. 7, emphasizing that tech companies would be the ones held responsible should there be age limit breaches. 

Now that the law has passed, Big Tech companies have their concerns and are making them known. The overall consensus from these companies, outlined in their respective submissions to the committee, is that the legislation was rushed and, as a result, the blanket ban is a flawed attempt to protect young people and monitor their social media usage. 

Though not stated explicitly, the ban would also result in the loss of potentially billions in advertising revenue for Big Tech. A study by the Center for Health Decision Science at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health estimated that social media companies Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube amassed approximately $11 billion from advertising to U.S. users under 18.

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📚 Dive A Bit Deeper 📚

📱APPY DAYS ARE GONE — Remember when everyone was developing an app for everything? The well has run dry as investors are not as bullish on apps lately. All is not lost, however, according to Procreate CEO James Cuda. His advice to startups developing apps: don’t rely on trends like AI.

🙋‍♀️ HACK THE TALENT AC-QUISITION — Let’s get it out there: startups are risky. Founders and investors understand this well, but so do job seekers. Startups ready to expand their teams should focus on what they can do to attract talent to choose them over bigger companies.

🤑 SLOW YOUR ROLL — Software investment has skyrocketed in the venture capital world, thus transforming it. For example, ARR multiples have forced SaaS startups to raise funds more quickly than before. This means less time spent on R&D, reducing long-term value for short-term gain. There are ways to fix it, however.