Advertisers are watching Australia’s teen social media ban

The rug is about to be pulled out from under youth culture, all in the name of safety, and there’s nothing underneath to catch those who fall.

Australia’s imminent under-16 social media ban, which takes effect on December 10, has drawn global attention. What happens next could redefine how brands understand and engage the next generation online. But it has an impact far beyond Australia and across every demographic, not only Generation Alpha.

Few forces shape modern advertising more profoundly than youth culture, and nothing has influenced today’s teenagers more pervasively than social media. From AI companions to new vocabularies, dark social and the intimacy of DMs, the way young people move through digital spaces are shaping behaviours far beyond their own age group.

This is why I started digging into what a teen social media ban would really do to a section of society when this law was first passed, back in November 2024. I was perplexed about how it was thought that this would help make teens safer, but also interested in what it will mean for consumer culture and how brands should adapt.

Why are teens being banned from social media?

In the evolving landscape of social media, the debate around young people’s online safety has simply become impossible to ignore. Kids experience the best and the worst of the world as a result of social media, that much is impossible to deny.

Many criticise the negative effects of brain rot, doomscrolling, harmful content, trolling and abuse or worse. However, social media has also been a brilliant platform for so many. Acting as a means of connection, information, education and entertainment, social media has been a vital outlet to so many who need it, making the world smaller, and allowing progressive individuals and brands to be part of culture in ways never possible pre-scroll. But the good doesn’t cancel out the bad, so of course something needs to change.

Australia’s decision to ban under-16s from accessing major social media platforms sets the scene for a timely global focus. Marketers, regulators and tech companies are watching closely to see how such a bold move will reshape youth engagement online and what the ripple effects might be for the wider region. Most importantly, we’re watching to see how it works and then what happens next.

The reality of online safety

As significant as Australia’s headline-grabbing change is, the reality is far more complex. The heart of the issue is understanding. And often, the people shaping the regulations have a limited grasp of the real digital behaviours of young people today.

Those who work in social media and digital culture know that online life is not linear and that a user does not simply leave the internet when an app is closed. They bypass restrictions, they move to other platforms, they adapt their behaviours, and their needs will be provided for by the industry’s innovators. New social networks emerge faster than you can say: “Let’s pass a new law to ban teenagers from being online.”

Far be it from me to know all the answers, but I’ve been in social media long enough to have an educated guess.

I became a blogger in the late 90s, by accident, I should say, and this early foray into writing while I was working my way up agency land led me to being the first contributor to Wikipedia’s social media page in 2006, as well as working with a number of the leading social networks. Alongside my work, my lived experience as a parent of teenagers has helped form my opinions. I know first-hand that the answer to youth safety isn’t quick or straightforward, but lawmakers don’t like to hear that kind of thing.

What do teens think about being banned?

I have spent much of this year working directly with 13- to 16-year-olds. It has given me a front row seat to their actual online experiences rather than the assumptions made about them. I asked them what they really think of social media and what they would do if the platforms they use were suddenly banned.

Many were already several years ahead of the minimum age requirements and admitted that they rarely take age gates seriously. They were not only deeply engaged with mainstream social platforms but increasingly invested in AI chat tools and emerging technologies that sit outside traditional social media regulation.

A number of them told me quite plainly that they would find ways around any restriction placed on them. It was not said defiantly, just matter-of-factly. Teenagers are digital escape artists, and Australia’s about to find out what engaging them will feel like.

The looming threat of AI

In the focus groups I ran this summer, many teens said they felt more attached to AI chat platforms than to traditional social media. The shift toward AI dependence is one of the most concerning new trends to me, and it’s more than just AI chatbots that children have become addicted to.

Some described using AI for emotional support, companionship or entertainment. One major AI platform, Character.ai, has even opted to ban under-18 users after reports of serious mental health incidents. This shows that the risks facing young people are not confined to the familiar platforms like Instagram or TikTok.

Clearly, relying solely on age bans for social media is unlikely to create the safer world that governments hope for. I believe that a balance of technology improvements, reclaiming the algorithm as a force for good, and widespread education programmes are needed, and urgently.

A ban may look decisive on paper, but it does not address pre-existing behaviour patterns. It also risks pushing young people toward online spaces with less regulation, less monitoring, and far less safe. Unless policymakers fully understand the ecosystem they are trying to regulate, the solutions they introduce will only ever address part of the problem.

Why should brands pay attention?

Their audiences are about to go through a seismic shift, one which will have global implications far beyond Australia. We’re already seeing similar moves in Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Singapore, and across Europe too. How youth behaviours change, how these changes shape culture, and how all demographics shift accordingly, will be a trend worth watching closely in the year ahead.

Drew is CEO of global social media consultancy Battenhall and founder of youth social media safety nonprofit Raise.