Get the full story<\/h2>\n\n
Hear Tama unpack the ban, why messaging apps are exempt, what young people should expect, and why generative AI is the next frontier for online safety.<\/p>\n\n
To get some answers, we sat down with subject-matter expert Professor Tama Leaver on The Future Of<\/em><\/a> \u2013 a podcast powered by Curtin University, where experts share their vision of the future and how their work is helping shape it for the better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor Tama Leaver is a renowned Curtin academic and expert in the world of social media. This article will highlight four of Tama\u2019s key insights from the conversation to help young people, parents and carers get answers to FAQs and navigate this transition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can listen to the full conversation on The Future of Social Media.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tama: <\/strong>Parents should be mindful that their child or children will experience this ban in different ways. It won’t all happen at once, and it may happen differently even if your kids are of a similar age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It might be that on December 10 you\u2019re off Instagram, but you\u2019re still on Snapchat … then a few days later you lose Snapchat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s going to be like ripping off a Band-Aid really slowly. And for the people whose social media is their social world, that eventual ripping off could be really traumatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For parents and carers, it\u2019s crucial to have conversations with young people about anything they might experience during this transition.<\/p>\n\n\n Tama:<\/strong> It’s important to emphasise that the law puts the onus on platforms, not kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If kids find a way around this, they have not broken the law. Young people should still feel comfortable communicating with parents or other trusted adults about what they experience online \u2013 especially if they see something that they find traumatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If young people lose the confidence that they can talk to someone, that would be the absolute worst outcome of this process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tama: <\/strong>When this ban comes into action, it won’t be that you can’t look at any social media content if you\u2019re under 16, you just can\u2019t have an account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can still view a lot of your favourite content without an account, but you won’t have it algorithmically fed to you in a feed \u2013 that’s the only real difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re a young person who is a K-pop fan and you\u2019re subscribed to 15 K-pop creators on YouTube, you can still bookmark those pages, come back to them every day and see if there’s new content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, it\u2019s essential to know that if I use YouTube \u2013 and many other platforms \u2013 without an account, it will start to infer what it thinks I like based solely on that interaction. The algorithm is still active; it just refreshes each time I visit rather than remembering my behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This matters because if you\u2019re not logged in, the platform has no way to infer that you might be a child, which means there are no protections it can offer you. It\u2019s an important flipside to banning young people from creating accounts, and one that hasn\u2019t been well thought through.<\/p>\n\n\n Tama: <\/strong>This ban does not mean that the job is done. We need to ensure that when these kids turn 16, they aren\u2019t suddenly thrown into social media, not knowing what to do. We really need to prepare them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best possible outcome is a massive investment in digital literacy programs to help kids become really robust digital citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If schools and other youth programs allow young people to model, simulate and experience digital scenarios, kids can become really robust digital citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We’ve seen some hints of educational investment, but nowhere near the scale needed to make that time really worthwhile.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n What will the social media ban be like for under-16s?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Insight one: everyone will experience this differently<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/TFO_The-social-media-ban_four-essential-insights-for-parents-132.jpg\")
<\/a>Who is responsible if kids bypass the ban?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Insight two: the burden is on platforms \u2013 not kids<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Can teens still use social media without accounts?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Insight three: you don\u2019t always need an account to use social media<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n![\"Four](\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/TFO_The-social-media-ban_four-essential-insights-for-parents-1.jpg\")
<\/a>How do we prepare young people for social media when they turn 16?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Insight four: the job is not done<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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