Mastodawn

MegaThread: Australian Social Media Ban - Under 16 lockout/verification/ID required

MegaThread: Australian Social Media Ban - Under 16 lockout/verification/ID required - Aussie Zone

With the ban going into effect, I thought it might be helpful to allow people to share their experiences about the Australian teen social media ban [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-04/when-is-the-teen-social-media-ban-what-apps-are-banned/106086152] and how it has affected them. Note: For the Aussie Zone lemmy requirements, see here [https://aussie.zone/post/27246692]. Please use that thread for an Aussie Zone specific discussions or questions. Good luck, everyone!

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mycatsays Dec 9

This morning I have opened: Lemmy (aussie.zone), Discord, WhatsApp, Bluesky, Messenger, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube.

None of them have asked me to verify my age, neither the ones that said they would nor the ones explicitly exempt nor the ones about which we know nothing.

My Facebook and Google accounts are probably old enough that they don’t need to verify. All the other accounts are too young for that to work.

Bluesky asked me to enter my date of birth, but did not require anything to substantiate the date I entered.

I’m a Millennial, so my age isn’t an issue. But I don’t want to give anything identifying to any platform. (I like the approach aussie.zone is taking.) So I am relieved that thus far my accounts are unaffected.

But I’m also feeling a healthy dose of “where’s the boogeyman we were promised?” and wondering when the shoe is going to drop.

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shrodes

Discord will if you try to open a channel that’s been marked age restricted. Though maybe if you have a newer account they had already done age verification on signup