TikTok’s biggest names have weighed in on Australia’s social ban
Under-16s will be booted from social media next month, with some of our biggest influencers predicting the impact it will have.
In two weeks, Australians under 16 will disappear from social media feeds.
It’s a move that could flip the creator world on its head.
So it’s no surprise the topic dominated chatter at the 2025 TikTok Awards in Sydney this week.
Indy Clinton has built her entire career online. With 2.7 million TikTok followers and a full-blown ‘mumfluencer’ empire, she’s one of Australia’s biggest digital success stories.
She was just 15 when she landed her first brand deal. It’s something teens her age simply won’t be able to do from next month.
“I wouldn’t have my career if I wasn’t allowed on social media,” Clinton told news.com.au on the red carpet.
“I do think the ban is a bit of a Band-Aid approach to social media.”
The 28-year-old believes social platforms were created with connection in mind. Not the darker reputation they’ve grown into.
“I do think social media wasn’t designed with bullying in mind. I think there needs to be a way to create a safer space for young ones, old ones. Anyone can get bullied and trolled. It doesn’t really matter your age,” Clinton said.
Her husband, Ben Azar, backed her stance.
“It’s a bit of an easy option. Rather than educate and work together with schooling and parents to try and work through it. Because it’s here to stay,” Azar told news.com.au.
Clinton also warned that locking kids out could create a new set of issues.
“By the time you turn 16, you’ve been banned, you haven’t been on social media, you go on, you have zero resilience with social media. You don’t know how to navigate this huge platform that just opens you up to the whole world,” she said.
On the other end of the scale, some creators are gearing up to welcome the ban with open arms.
TikTok comedian Blake Pavey joked that the change couldn’t come soon enough.
“I’m so excited about the under-16 ban coming in,” he told news.com.au.
“If I get one more message from a 14-year-old who thinks I can change the liquor licensing and age-restriction laws in this country, I don’t know what I’m going to do … I’m not Anthony Albanese.”
When asked how losing younger viewers might impact his audience, the 23-year-old didn’t seem fazed.
“When they come back, I’m sorted. 2028 is going to be huge for me,” Pavey said.
Some creators argued the ban doesn’t go far enough. After hearing their screen-time confessions, they might be right.
The lowest screen-time average was an impressive 30 minutes a day, but the upper end of the scale might be enough to send you outside for a walk out of sheer guilt.
“My screentime is horrible. I don’t think you could pay me to show you,” Tom Smallwood told news.com.au
“It’s 16 hours some days.”
But before you judge, know that the 26-year-old has a perfectly logical explanation.
“I watch YouTube to go to sleep … I’ll put my phone down, go to sleep, wake up, and my phone’s been on for 12 hours,”
Influencer Leah Halton has seen her screen time hit similar highs.
“It’s bad. I wake up on my phone, go to bed on my phone. I have a problem,” the 24-year-old admits.
“I think this week it’s honestly better. Maybe seven. But it’s gotten up to like 16 hours.”
She also notes that colder weather often sparks a screentime spike.
“I don’t want to go outside so I just bedrot,” she said.
The most common answer hovered around the 7 to 8 hour mark, which is basically a full-time job’s worth of swiping.
Unless you’re Keli Holiday, who may have potentially fudged the number ever so slightly.
“It goes in waves,” the singer admitted to news.com.au.
His estimate? “78 hours a day.” Which, for the record, is three days of scrolling in one day. Meaning he has somehow unlocked extra hours the rest of us don’t have.
Then there’s Blue Wiggle Anthony Field, who can confidently claim a perfect zero on the screen-time scoreboard.
“I’m on the phone, not really that much. When I’m on the phone, it’s one of those ones you dial. I tried to get TikTok on it and it just doesn’t work,” he joked.
But with figures like this, it’s hard not to wonder: should all of us be banned from our phones?
“These guys are off their heads … they need a full screen-time ban,” Creator Daniel Gorringe proposed.
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Originally published as TikTok’s biggest names have weighed in on Australia’s social ban
