Australia just passed a sweeping social media law banning under-16s from platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. The problem: Everyone will need to verify their age with ID — shredding online anonymity and raising huge privacy concerns.

Enforcement is a disaster waiting to happen. Tech platforms must block under-16s or face $50M AUD fines, but the law doesn’t define how. Passports? Birth certificates? No one knows—least of all the government.

Teenagers won’t stop using the internet; they’ll just go to less regulated spaces. Meanwhile, centralizing ID data creates a hacker’s paradise in a country already hit by major breaches.

Critics call the law rushed and unworkable. Even the promised trial of age-verification tech won’t start until 2025 — long after the law takes effect. It’s policy by headline, not strategy.

This could become a global model — or a cautionary tale about sacrificing privacy and practicality for feel-good legislation. Australians deserve better.