Australia's Online Safety Amendment Act, which was signed into law in December last year, is all set to come into effect on December 10, 2025. It’s the first law of its kind in the world, aiming to enforce a complete social media ban for children under the age of 16.
The list of social media platforms and apps getting banned for under-16s includes Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, and more. However, the good news for fans of Roblox is that the Aussie government has not decided to include it in the ban list yet.
Still, this has caused a spike in interest in the best Roblox VPNs as a precaution and to potentially circumvent any age verification that may be put in place. Keep reading to find out more about Australia's social media ban, which platforms are included, which are not – and why, although Roblox is available to under-16s right now, that could soon change under this law’s dynamic system.
What is Australia's social media ban?
Australia’s social media ban is the country’s latest and most intense move yet to protect its young teenagers from being exposed and negatively impacted by harmful content, harassment, and cyberbullying, which have unfortunately become prevalent on social media platforms.
According to a survey by security.org, there's a 79% chance that kids on YouTube will be cyberbullied, followed by Snapchat at 69%, TikTok at 64%, and Facebook at 49%. These are all pretty high numbers when you think about it.
Here’s the full list of social media apps getting banned in Australia from December 10:
- TikTok
- Snapchat
- X (Twitter)
- YouTube
- Twitch
- Kick
- Threads
Under this mandate, the Australian Government has put the responsibility of restricting under-16s’ access to social media on the platforms themselves. The eSafety Commissioner must be satisfied that these platforms have taken “reasonable steps” to prevent under-16s from holding an account. If they fail to do so, they can face a fine of up to AU$49.5 million (US$32.8 million).
The platforms have all rolled out a largely similar plan of action, wherein they’ll give teens the option to download all of their photos and messages and then deactivate (or archive) their accounts. Then, when they do turn 16, they will be able to access their accounts once again without having any of their content deleted. Alternatively, they can simply choose to delete their accounts entirely.
As for how these platforms will verify users’ ages, that’s up to them. However, the Australian Government has made it clear that requesting ID cannot be the only form of age verification. In response, different companies have outlined different steps they would take, some being more transparent than others.
For example, Meta has said that revealing its age-verification method could help teens figure out how to bypass the ban, for example, via the use of VPNs.
Snapchat, on the other hand, said it will use account behavioral signals in addition to the birthdays entered by users themselves.
TikTok has said it will employ a multi-layered approach that combines technology and human moderation to comply with Australia’s latest law.
Is Australia banning Roblox?
At the time of writing, there are no plans to ban Roblox in Australia. The government has not named Roblox as one of the social media platforms that will need to enforce the ban.
However, the biggest caveat here is that the Australian Government has clarified that the list they have put out is a dynamic one, and that they could later add other platforms – including Roblox and others like Discord, WhatsApp, Lemon8, GitHub, etc. – if they feel that kids in the country have started to flee to one such platform. That's why we're seeing a spike in interest in the best VPNs in the country.
Roblox in particular could be in the line of fire if such a large migration were to take place, because even right now the platform hosts a lot of social media-like features such as in-game text chat, direct messaging, voice chat, and its recently introduced Roblox Moments, which is essentially a TikTok-like feed where users can share their gameplay.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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