Australia’s world-first social media ban for children has taken effect, with throngs of teenagers waking up to find their accounts have gone dark.

Others tell BBC they have already snuck past barriers and will continue scrolling and posting freely until they are caught.

The new law means social media firms – including Meta, TikTok and YouTube – must take “reasonable steps” to ensure Australians aged under 16 don’t hold accounts on their platforms.

The ban, eyed with excitement by global leaders and trepidation by tech companies, was justified as necessary to protect children from harmful content and algorithms – though critics have argued blanket prohibition is neither practical nor wise.

This landmark policy has been one of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s pet projects, and speaking to media on Wednesday he said he believed it has the power to change lives around the world.

“This is a day in which my pride to be prime minister of Australia has never been greater,” he said, flanked by parents and media figures who had pushed for the ban.

“This is Australia showing enough is enough.”

“I think it will go [down] with the other great reforms that Australia has led the world on.”

Various governments, from the US state of Florida to the European Union, have been experimenting with limiting children’s use of social media. But, along with a higher age limit of 16, Australia is the first jurisdiction to deny an exemption for parental approval in a policy like this – making its laws the world’s strictest.

Countries like Denmark, Malaysia, Singapore, Greece and Brazil are among those who have said they’re looking at Australia as a test case.

The Australian government has named 10 social media platforms as a start, including all of the most popular ones, but has also warned others it’s coming for them next.

Online safety regulator, Julie Inman Grant, said her agency will start checking compliance from Thursday. Parents and children won’t be liable under this law, only social media firms, which face fines of up to A$49.5m ($33m, £24.5m) for serious breaches.

“Tomorrow, I will issue information notices to the 10 major platforms and we will provide information to the public before Christmas on how these age restrictions are being implemented and whether, preliminarily, we see them working,” she said.

There is broad agreement in Australia that social media companies are failing to shield users, particularly children, from harm on their platforms.

Tasmanian student Florence Brodribb – known as Flossie – told the press she believed the ban would help kids like her grow up “healthier, safer, kinder, and more connected”.

“Our brains are going through one of the biggest rewiring periods of our lives… Social media is designed to take advantage of that,” the 12-year-old said.

“Young people deserve better than that.”

Read more BBC