Faced with the ban on social networks for children under 16 years of age in Australia, a family of influencers packs their bags

They explain that they have no other option. A family of Australian influencers announced to their subscribers that they had to leave the country so that their 14-year-old daughter Charlotte could continue posting videos about their daily lives. Under a pioneering law in this area, social networks will be prohibited for young people under 16 years of age from December 10.

Formed by the two mothers Beck and Bec Lea, their son Prezley, 17, and Charlotte, the “Empire Family”, with its almost 2 million subscribers on YouTube, will move to London, according to the BBC.

On Instagram, the parents explain that the entire family has dual British and Australian citizenship and that their daughter Charlotte recently decided to move to online education, allowing them to reside wherever they want.

“We use the Internet wisely”

In the video detailing the family’s decision to leave Perth, Western Australia, mother Beck explains that they are not opposed to the social media ban.

“We understand this protects young people from the dangers of the Internet, but we use the Internet wisely,” he said. Before adding: “we understand that some young people are negatively affected by social networks, we are not naive about this.”

The mother, however, says she is concerned that the Australian government has not “precisely defined how (the ban) will work.” The measure “covers us while Australia works out the logistical details of this rule, because I think there will be a lot of setbacks and ups and downs,” he reasons.

Hundreds of thousands of accounts deleted

The law prohibiting social media for minors under 16 years of age, adopted at the end of 2024, is one of the most restrictive in the world. It exposes companies that fail to comply with the law to fines of up to 32 million dollars (27.5 million euros). Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and TikTok have stated that they will comply, although technology players express doubts about its concrete implementation.

The Australian government has clarified that social networks will not be required to verify the age of all their users in Australia as long as they act to block access to children.

Meta Australia manager Mia Garlick said the US giant still faces “many challenges” but could delete hundreds of thousands of accounts of users under 16 before the December 10 deadline.