Australian government investigates social media platforms for under-16s access ban compliance violations
Consensus Summary
Australia’s government is investigating five major social media platforms—Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube—for potential noncompliance with a new law banning under-16s from using their services. The ban, which took effect on December 10, 2024, is the world’s first of its kind, requiring platforms to implement age verification and prevent minors from creating accounts. Investigations reveal alleged failures, including allowing repeated age verification attempts until success and insufficient measures to block banned users from opening new accounts. The eSafety Commissioner’s report, released on February 2025, highlights systemic shortcomings, with fines of up to A$49.5 million possible for noncompliance. Over 4.7 million accounts were deactivated in the first two days of enforcement, though surveys suggest many children still retain access, with 31% of parents reporting their under-16 children still had social media accounts. Platforms like Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok have reported closing hundreds of thousands of accounts, but critics argue enforcement remains lax. The government has expanded the ban’s scope to include more platforms with features like infinite scroll and disappearing stories, while excluding others like Discord and WhatsApp. The investigation reflects broader tensions between tech companies and regulators over balancing innovation with child protection.
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Key details reported by multiple sources:
- Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube are under investigation by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner for potential noncompliance with the under-16 social media ban, announced on or before February 2025.
- The eSafety Commissioner’s compliance update was scheduled for release on Tuesday, February 2025, detailing alleged failures by platforms to enforce age restrictions.
- Platforms are accused of allowing underage users to repeatedly attempt age verification until they pass, and failing to prevent banned users from creating new accounts.
- Fines of up to A$49.5 million (approximately US$33.9 million) can be imposed on platforms for systemic noncompliance with the ban.
- Over 4.7 million accounts were deactivated or restricted in the first two days after the ban took effect on December 10, 2024, according to the eSafety Commissioner.
- The ban covers 10 platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, Reddit, YouTube, Kick, and Twitch, with updates expanding to include platforms with infinite scroll, feedback features, and time-limited content.
- A survey of 900 Australian parents found that 31% of children still had social media accounts after the ban, down from 49% before the ban.
- Meta (Facebook/Instagram) reported closing 550,000 accounts under the ban, while Snapchat and TikTok combined closed 665,000 accounts.
- The ban was introduced on December 10, 2024, making Australia the first country to enforce a world-leading minimum age requirement of 16 for social media access.
Points of Difference
Details reported by only one source:
- Communications Minister Anika Wells stated, 'If eSafety finds these companies have systemically failed to uphold their legal obligations, I expect the commissioner to throw the book at them.'
- The eSafety Commissioner’s report will include examples of platforms allowing underage users to repeatedly attempt age assurance and failing to provide clear mechanisms for parents to report underage users.
- The definition of platforms covered by the ban was updated in January 2025 to include those with infinite scroll, feedback features like likes, and time-limited elements (e.g., disappearing stories).
- Discord, Google Classroom, WhatsApp, and Roblox were explicitly excluded from the updated ban scope.
- eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant mentioned 'teething issues' as platforms deployed new age-assurance technologies after the ban’s implementation.
- The ban was implemented following News Corp’s Let Them Be Kids campaign, which led Australia to become the first country to raise the age of access to social media.
- Meta (parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) reported closing 550,000 accounts, while Snapchat and TikTok combined closed 665,000 accounts under the ban.
- The Guardian reported that the eSafety Commission’s update would reveal 'unacceptable' systems used by platforms, including allowing children to repeatedly attempt age assurance tests until they pass.
- The article included a live politics segment that briefly mentioned the social media ban investigation alongside unrelated topics like Iran conflict and gas export tax discussions.
- A survey of 900 Australian parents found that 70% of children who had accounts on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok before the ban still maintained access post-ban.
- The eSafety report stated that the most common reason children retained accounts was that they had not yet been asked to verify their age by the platform.
- Meta stated in a response that age verification is challenging for the industry, particularly at the 16-year-old boundary, citing the government’s own Age Assurance Technology Trial for 'natural error margins'.
- The Guardian reported that facial age estimation had higher error rates for people close to the 16-year-old cut-off, with some platforms knowing that children aged 14 or 15 would receive false results of being judged over 16.
- The eSafety report noted that around 63.6% of parents reported their child still had a Facebook account, 69.1% for Instagram, 69.4% for Snapchat, and 69.3% for TikTok after the ban.
- The SBS article highlighted that platforms were making it easy to find ways to circumvent age-assurance measures, though this was not detailed further.
Contradictions
Conflicting information between sources:
- The Guardian (Article 4) reports that 70% of children retained accounts on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok post-ban, while ABC and NEWSCOMAU do not provide this specific percentage breakdown for those platforms.
- NEWSCOMAU states the ban was introduced after News Corp’s Let Them Be Kids campaign, but ABC and The Guardian do not explicitly mention this campaign as the primary driver for the ban.
- The Guardian (Article 4) claims platforms were encouraging children to attempt age assurance even when their declared age was under 16, but ABC and NEWSCOMAU do not provide this specific detail.
- ABC and NEWSCOMAU mention that TikTok and Google did not respond to requests for comment, while The Guardian (Article 4) does not include this detail.
- The Guardian (Article 3) briefly mentions unrelated topics like the Iran conflict and gas export tax in the same article, which are not covered by ABC, NEWSCOMAU, or SBS.
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