Australia has made global headlines by becoming the first country to enforce a comprehensive under-16 social media ban, aiming to shield children from online harms such as addiction, cyberbullying and mental health impacts.
Effective December 10, 2025, major platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook and Reddit, are legally required to restrict access for users under the age of 16 and take “reasonable steps” to prevent them from holding accounts.
However, the rollout has encountered immediate pushback, not primarily from lawmakers or tech giants, but from teenagers themselves.
Within days, creative workarounds involving dog photos, VPNs and fake identities began circulating as young Australians attempted to evade the restrictions and regain access to their favourite apps.
What Is Australia’s Social Media Ban?
Australia’s social media law is part of the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, which amended existing child safety legislation to require social platforms to prevent users under 16 from actively creating or maintaining accounts.
Under the law, platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, X and others must take “reasonable steps” to verify a user’s age and ensure minors do not hold accounts.
If they fail to comply, they face hefty penalties, up to AUD 49.5 million (around INR 29 crore) in fines.
Rather than criminalising children or parents for accessing social media, the legislation places responsibility squarely on platforms to implement age verification systems and cut off those who are underage.
Read More: Overwhelmed By Online Negativity? Bloomscrolling Is The Way Out
How Are Kids Finding Loopholes For It?
Within hours of the ban taking effect, reports emerged that teens were already sharing creative, if not chaotic, tricks to circumvent restrictions.
One of the most bizarre workarounds involved teens uploading pictures of dogs, such as golden retrievers, to fool AI–powered age-verification systems.
Isobel, a thirteen-year-old, speaking with the BBC, also explained how she found a loophole to the ban in just five minutes, by using her mom’s photo to pass the platform’s age check.
Some youths also used AI-generated adult faces or edited images in attempts to trick systems that estimate age based on facial features.
Virtual private networks (VPNs) are also being used by many of the affected Australian teens. VPNs help to mask the user’s true location by routing their connection through servers in other countries. By using VPNs, Australian teens are able to make it seem as if they are accessing social media from outside the country.
Some teenagers reportedly have created accounts with false birthdays, claiming to be 16 or older, and in some cases, used fake or borrowed IDs to satisfy age checks when prompted.
Jillian, a resident of New South Wales, spoke with ABC News and explained how her teen daughter used makeup to make herself look older.
She said, “I have a 12-year-old daughter. She and her friends were identified as 17+ simply by putting on some fake lashes and makeup. Even without the [make-up] she was identified as 14+. So either way, these young girls are likely exposed to more inappropriate chats or content than they were before.”
Another woman from New South Wales brought up how her 14-year-old son gained access to Snapchat by changing his age and passing the k-ID selfie verification.
She said, “I went into his Snapchat account to change his birthday back, and it won’t let me as you can only change your date of birth a limited amount of times,” and “How can this be allowed? How did he get his age confirmed at 23 when he is only 14?”
Image Credits: Google Images
Sources: Firstpost, The Guardian, BBC
Find the blogger: @chirali_08
This post is tagged under: Australia, Australia Social Media Ban, Australia Social Media Ban list, Australia Social Media Ban under 16, Australia Social Media Ban news, Australia Social Media Ban for children, Australia social media, social media, social media ban, australia news social media, australia social ban, Australian teens, Australia kids
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