<span>Story: Australian regulator says country’s youth social media ban is ‘calling quit’ on addictive platforms</span><span>:: December 10, 2025</span><span>:: Sydney, Australia</span><span>:: Julie Inman Grant, Australian Electronic Safety Specialist</span><span>“Well, this is the time Australia is calling out for social media and deceptive, harmful design features that tether our children to their platforms, gamifying them through endless scrolling, fast streaking and auto-play, sending them down dangerous rabbit holes. It’s built into the system to stay sticky through ‘outrage’, so the reason the Andrew Taits and online misogynists of the world get so much attention is because the system is set up to promote that anger.”</span><span>“We have young Australians who have literally taken their own lives because of access to these platforms, so when their lawyers come back to us and ask, ‘Do you know about free speech?’, well, do you know we actually have laws? We expect any company that provides a service in Australia to abide by our laws. So that’s very interesting to me, that whole concept of technological exceptionalism. There’s no other consumer-facing industry in the world where we don’t expect them to make sure there are safety standards.”</span><span>Electronics Safety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said Australia had the right to restrict access to social media just as it would apply safety rules to any other industry, adding that she had heard from many American parents decrying the lack of equivalent guardrails there.</span><span>The comments show regulators view the Australian law as a step toward a common goal and ignore complaints from some of the world’s largest technology companies and senior U.S. lawmakers who say the Australian law, which fines companies up to A$49.5 million ($33 million), is a threat to free speech.</span><span>Ahead of an Australian law requiring social media platforms to block people under 16 taking effect on Wednesday, a U.S. congressional committee said it wanted Inman Grant to testify about a foreign official who challenged the First Amendment.</span><span>All 10 platforms covered by the ban – including Meta’s Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and Alphabet’s YouTube – have said they will comply.</span>
