SYDNEY: 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. “I’ll miss you guys,” posted Melbourne creator Josh Partington, who makes comedy sketches about Australian life for more than 75,000 TikTok followers.

Other countries are considering less drastic ways to control teenagers' social media use. On Nov. 30, Singapore said it would ban the use of smartphones on secondary school…

Critics say new law is 'normalising surveillance' for young people and risks cutting them off from support networks.