‘It’s the parents’ job’: Not government’s place to ban social media, TikTok creators say

3 months ago 20

Social media bans are better left to parents, not the government, says Ilai Matangi, who took out the top gong at the TikTok Awards as social media influencers prepared to adjust to the clampdown on users aged under 16.

Matangi was crowned TikTok creator of the year at the awards ceremony in Sydney on Wednesday after amassing 2.7 million followers on his account, @havea676, where he posts videos of family life as a father of four daughters.

“My kids don’t have social media. They’re still very young,” the full-time content creator told this masthead on Wednesday.

TikTok is among 10 platforms that must take “reasonable steps” to restrict under-16 Australians from using the platform from December 10. The others are Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, Twitch, X, YouTube, Kick and Reddit. Gaming platforms such as Roblox, as well as Discord, remain exempt from the ban, despite documented safety concerns.

“Realistically, I think it’s the parents’ job to monitor the stuff,” Matangi said.

“The reality is if you do ban it, I’m sure kids will still find a way to get on it. So, as a parent, me personally, I think just being a parent and making sure you’re doing your job first. Everything else that comes around with the ban and stuff probably [comes] after.”

Ilai Matangi on the red carpet at the 2025 TikTok Awards held at the TikTok Entertainment Centre (formerly ICC), Sydney, on Wednesday evening.

Matangi, whose eldest daughter is 10, said he had “already put a ban” on his daughters’ use of social media until they were 16.

“But [there] would be a lot of monitoring, discussions and chats [about] everything that’s out there because yeah, it is pretty scary,” he said.

The under-16 ban threatens to disrupt views and engagement for thousands of creators who have built their brands and careers on social media.

Influencer management firm Neuralle’s managing director, Jordan Michaelides, said the ban would cause only a “superficial” reduction in views or earnings, as creators made most of their income from brand deals and sponsorships, but he also said it would become more difficult for young emerging talent.

“How does the pipeline of the next generation of up-and-coming talent come through? I don’t know,” he said.

“This whole wave and explosion of talent locally has been from the fact of platforms like TikTok coming around, and YouTube being a staple for the last 10 to 15 years. That will be something we will lose.”

Michaelides criticised the social media ban, which has been billed by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as “world-leading”, saying it was “stupid” and likely to have unintended consequences.

“Why don’t we do something in our education policy to get people more informed, more willing to talk about bad things on these platforms?” he said.

Also on the red carpet was Ainslie Harvey, who created the account “Hot History” in 2023 to make history interesting and entertaining for young people. Nominated for the Learn on TikTok category, Ainslie said that short-form video content was an important education platform for people who learn in different ways.

“I think that it is fabulous that we are keeping kids safe online,” she said. “I just hope that we’re able to expand how people learn and still be able to facilitate and have kids being able to access educational and inspirational and informational content online in some way.

“From a government standpoint, I think that it should really be up to parents to determine how their kids access and use online, but there are things that parents just simply can’t control and don’t have access to.”

Many creators and influencers are waiting to see how the ban will affect them, Michaelides said.

Sophia Begg, 21, better-known as Sophadopha, won the business of the year award for her clothing label All For Mimi and said she hadn’t really thought about the effects. Latisha Clark, 22, who has 3.8 million followers and whose mother, Kat Clark, won for creator of the year in 2022, said she wasn’t sure how the ban would work.

Under the ban, users below the age of 16 or their guardians won’t be penalised if they are caught on the platforms; the onus will be on tech giants to implement the right controls.

Facebook owner Meta has already begun giving users the option to archive their existing Facebook, Instagram and Threads accounts in order to re-access them when they turn 16, and Snapchat has encouraged under 16s to download their data as soon as possible. Non-compliance will carry a maximum penalty of $49.5 million for the platform.