I’m 15 and I’ve been podcasting for five years. Do you expect me to stop now?

2 months ago 7

Opinion

December 12, 2025 — 11.50am

Social media is a harmful tool filled with negativity, hate and cyberbullying; however, it’s also filled with 5 billion people who learn, create, educate and spread positivity. Now, more than four out of five children under 16 who use social media will be kicked off and lose their voice, their freedom, and their communication with the rest of the world.

Many TikTok users claiming to be under the age of 16 and living in Australia have taken to the age-restricted platform to brag about bypassing the social media ban.

I’m 15, so I’m one of them.

However, for the past five years I have been using the social media algorithms to spread information about politics and the reasons I believe teenagers should be involved in the process and have a say in decision-making. I also use them to promote my politics podcast, Your First Vote, where I interview MPs and the decision-makers who need to listen to us.

My experience so far has been nothing but awesome. I had over 300 videos posted on my account dating back to 2020, when COVID began. I got into the trends to occupy my time, and since then I have grown up with social media, learnt about the world through it, and found new hobbies, interests and friends by using it.

This ban was not articulated correctly, with no say from the people it’s going to affect. I strongly oppose it due to my experience on social media and how well it has gone. The ban is stopping freedom of speech for millions of children and teens in Australia. It is also stopping creativity and small businesses like mine. I have been in contact with people all around Australia, especially rural people, who depend on social media to find out what’s happening in the world and make new connections. Many of the rural people I asked were deeply upset and were not looking forward to losing their communication and freedom of speech.

The funny thing is that the ban hasn’t actually worked. Most of my friends still have access to their social media accounts because they faked their age when they signed up. A limited number have been fully banned on apps such as Snapchat and Instagram.

Many Australian parents have sided with their children, allowing them to have accounts under their names. It won’t be long before the algorithm detects under-16s piggybacking off their parents and starts deleting these accounts.

But the effectiveness of this ban has been poor and not properly enforced. Parents or children can’t be prosecuted if they remain on social media – it’s up to the platforms to kick people out or face massive fines.

Currently, teens are searching for new ways to communicate, new apps and new accounts. Some are finding a way around the ban; some are failing. Snapchat’s facial age verification has deemed a large number of teens who are under 16 to be 16 or over, while Instagram’s age verification has been much harder to bypass.

Teens are also trying to piggyback off their parents by creating new accounts with their mum or dad’s date of birth, name, email, phone number, location and device. Most are successful and able to regain access to Instagram on their own devices. TikTok, X, YouTube, Twitch, Reddit and Kick have yet to show users options for face or ID verification. TikTok warns users that they may be kicked off the platform due to the new terms and conditions. YouTube is letting users stay if they are connected to a Google Family Link account, as it is technically owned and operated by the parent or guardian.

This ban doesn’t just affect the children who scroll or look at content – it affects the creators themselves who post content, whether it be educational, inspirational, fun or aimed at engaging with decision-makers. It also affects creators around the world who will lose viewers and engagement from Australian teenagers, with some YouTubers even posting final goodbye videos to their Australian audience.

I will continue my podcasting, but I won’t be able to promote it on social media.

This ban is locking out teenagers from having a voice in our country. It’s stopping small business, home education, STEM creators, political creators, transport creators, YouTube creators and everyone trying to spread joy around the country. And yet many under-16s will succeed in defying the ban.

So, prime minister, communications minister, education minister and every single MP who voted yes to this ridiculous ban — what do you have to say now?

Jack Okill is a social media creator. jackokill.odoo.com