Canberra: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has criticized groups of young people for posting self-portraits on social media despite the world’s first law banning children under 16 from using social media. He said the enforcement of the law may have its initial difficulties but will ultimately save lives.

According to Thai News Agency, the law came into effect on Wednesday, December 10th, with support from both major political parties and approximately three-quarters of Australian parents. However, later that day (Thursday, December 11th), Australian social media feeds were flooded with comments from individuals claiming to be under 16, including one on the Prime Minister’s TikTok account that read, “I’m still here, waiting until I can vote.”

Under this law, the 10 largest platforms, including TikTok, Meta’s Instagram, and Alphabet’s YouTube, will be required to block underage users or face fines of up to AU$49.5 million (approximately US$33 million or around 1.18 billion baht). The government says it may take some time for these platforms to comply with the law.

Mr. Albanese said on News Corp’s Sky News program that some young people who have not yet been removed from social media are sending boastful messages about this, which is essentially letting the platforms know who they are, and those accounts will eventually be removed. He said that this measure is legal and cannot be ignored.

Governments around the world say they will be watching Australia’s enforcement of the law and are considering whether to take similar action. US Republican Senator Josh Hawley supports the ban, while France, Denmark, Malaysia, and other countries say they are planning to follow Australia’s model.

Australian Communications Minister Anika Wales said the Australian eSafety Commissioner will ask all affected platforms to report the number of accounts of users under the age of 16 in the days before and after the law came into effect on Wednesday.

Mr. Albanese, who was visiting schools in Canberra, said the measure would lead to better academic outcomes and behavior because students would have better social interaction when they no longer had to constantly stare at their communication devices.

All 10 platforms named in this law have opposed it but have stated they will comply. Meanwhile, after the law came into effect, some platforms that were not banned saw a rapid increase in downloads on app download charts, leading the Australian government to say it could add more banned platforms to the list under this law.