SYDNEY, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Australian teenagers have taken to social
media for the last time to farewell their followers and mourn the loss
of the platforms that shaped much of their lives before a world-first
ban took effect on Wednesday.
In the hours leading up to the ban's midnight start (1300 GMT on
Tuesday), a flurry of goodbye messages came from teenagers - as well as >adults - on platforms including TikTok, Instagram and Reddit.
"IrCOll miss you guys," posted 29-year-old Melbourne creator Josh >Partington, who makes comedy sketches about Australian life for more
than 75,000 TikTok followers.
Australia has ordered 10 major platforms including TikTok, Alphabet's >(GOOGL.O), opens new tab YouTube and Meta's (META.O), opens new tab >Instagram and Facebook to block around one million users under the age
of 16 or face massive fines.
Some 200,000 accounts have already been deactivated on TikTok alone, the >government said, with "hundreds of thousands" to be blocked in the
coming days.
Young Australians, who have grown up using social media, faced the
prospect of losing access to their favourite apps with a mix of sadness, >humour and disbelief.
"IrCOm going to miss you soo much and especially the funny content," one >TikTok user wrote to their followers. "See you in a few years, but I
don't know if my account will still be standing."
"Goodbye, see you on the other side," another said.
Some stayed online until midnight on Tuesday, posting clips of clocks >counting down set to Adele's "Skyfall" and its lyrics, "this is the end."
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/this-is-end-australian-teens-mourn-loss-social-media-ban-begins-2025-12-10/
Sad to see Whisper go.
| Sysop: | Amessyroom |
|---|---|
| Location: | Fayetteville, NC |
| Users: | 54 |
| Nodes: | 6 (0 / 6) |
| Uptime: | 14:31:11 |
| Calls: | 742 |
| Files: | 1,218 |
| D/L today: |
3 files (2,681K bytes) |
| Messages: | 183,842 |
| Posted today: | 1 |