澳大利亚针对16岁以下青少年实施社群媒体禁令，被称为世界首创、为孩子「还他们童年」的尝试，现已执行约三个月。官方可确认的早期数据很少；政府称平台在禁令生效后关闭了约4.7百万个帐号，但尚无全面可核实的后续资料，且其中部分可能是同一青少年在多平台持有多个帐号。澳洲研究者才刚开始追踪青少年是否真的改变使用习惯，因此可观测效果预期只能在较长时间内才会出现。

澳洲青少年仍有相当比例仍在使用社群媒体，这是平台未完全封锁与年轻人找到替代途径共同造成的结果。法规要求业者采取「合理步骤」做年龄验证，严重违规最高可罚A$49.5百万（3500万美元）。但实务上，企业可自行设定审核误差，且若有部分未成年流出网路，通常不致受到惩罚。家长普遍难以把青少年拉回萤幕前，部分人因此把希望寄托在尚未养成使用习惯的更小孩童身上。

这项经验正被其他地区密切关注：英国仍在咨询，Greece拟提出15岁以下禁令，印尼则要求到3月28日将16岁以下帐号停用，印度卡纳塔克邦（Karnataka）也提出类似封锁；美国多个州也在讨论禁令。加州洛杉矶一位陪审团刚裁定Meta Platforms与Alphabet Inc.对一名20岁女性社群媒体成瘾导致的心理健康伤害负责，判令赔偿600万美元，并引发与烟草、鸦片类诉讼潮类似的比较。澳洲12岁、身心障碍者Lily Gaulton亦主张应比现在的「全面封锁」更温和，显示禁令不是速效药，但可能逐步改变青少年「萤幕外」生活的期待。

Australia’s ban on social media for under-16s, presented as a world-first attempt to give children back their childhood, has now been in force for about three months. Early official figures are limited: regulators said platforms shut about 4.7 million accounts, but there is no verified post-ban dataset and part of that number may be duplicates or multiple accounts by the same teenager. Australian researchers are only now beginning to track whether adolescent usage patterns actually change, so observable effects are expected only over a long horizon.

There is still substantial usage among Australian teens through platform misses and youth workarounds. The law requires “reasonable steps” age checks and sets penalties up to A$49.5 million (US$35 million) for serious violations, yet operators can define their own verification tolerance and often avoid sanctions if some underage users slip through. Parents report limited practical control and focus on younger children who have not yet developed social-media habits, while officials and observers warn that measurable outcomes may take years, possibly a generation, to materialize.

Australia’s experience is now part of a wider policy wave: the UK is consulting, Greece is moving toward a ban for under-15s, Indonesia requires under-16 account deactivation as of March 28, and Karnataka in India is proposing similar restrictions; several U.S. states are also considering bans. A Los Angeles jury just held Meta Platforms and Alphabet Inc. liable for a young woman’s mental-health harm linked to social media addiction and awarded $6 million in damages, triggering comparisons to tobacco and opioid litigation. In Australia, even some 12-year-olds like Lily Gaulton have asked for a less absolute approach, reinforcing that the ban is no quick cure but may still shape expectations for off-screen life.