Australia Just Banned Social Media for Under 16s. Here's What It Signals for Children's Entertainment.

Australia becomes the first country in the world to ban social media for children under 16.

From 10 December, platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat and Facebook must take "reasonable steps" to remove under-16s from their services or face fines of up to $50 million AUD per breach. No parental consent exceptions. No workarounds.

Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant called it "the first domino." Is she right?

The UK, France, Norway and several US states are already watching closely, drafting their own legislation.

The question every children's entertainment company should be asking: what comes next?

Because here's what the ban really signals. It's not anti-technology. It's anti-harm. The distinction matters enormously.

The research that drove this legislation — including Jonathan Haidt's The Anxious Generation — doesn't argue against digital experiences for children. It argues against algorithmic feeds designed to maximise engagement at the expense of wellbeing. Against infinite scroll at bedtime — when 68% of teens report using their phones after lights out. Against platform mechanics that work against the natural rhythms of family life.

Parents aren't looking for a return to 1995. They're looking for technology that works with their families rather than against them.

This is precisely why we built Sound AiSleep.

This isn't about swapping one app for another. It's about redesigning how digital moments fit into family life. When we created a platform that lets parents record bedtime stories in their own voice — stories their children can listen to even when mum or dad can't be there — we weren't thinking about regulatory changes in Australia. We were thinking about a simpler problem: the 7pm battle. Every parent knows it. The transition from the stimulation of the day to the calm needed for sleep. The "one more episode" negotiation. The struggle to get screens out of bedrooms.

We describe Sound AiSleep as creating the "play-to-sleep" category. It's the bridge that helps families transition from the characters children already love — from Netflix, YouTube, and beyond — into the peaceful wind-down needed for sleep. Same beloved stories. Same trusted brands. Just reimagined for bedtime, in a parent's own voice. No algorithmic rabbit holes. No notifications. No social comparison.

We're not here to keep your child on Sound AiSleep for hours. If we've done our job properly, they won't even hear the end of the audiobook.

Just stories. The way they've worked for thousands of years, updated for modern families.

Australia's ban will create a vacuum. Millions of children will suddenly have hours back in their day. Parents will be looking for alternatives that don't simply shift screen time from one platform to another. The entertainment industry needs to be ready with products that are genuinely designed for wellbeing — not retrofitted with parental controls as an afterthought.

The companies that will thrive in this new landscape aren't those scrambling to comply with age verification requirements. They're the ones who've built their products around a different premise entirely: that children's technology should serve families, not extract attention from them.

Australia is the first domino. The question for every founder, investor and executive in children's entertainment is simple: which side of this shift are you building for?