Australian government investigates social media platforms for under-16s 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 world-first ban on under-16s using their services. The ban, enforced since December 10 2024, requires platforms to prevent minors from creating or maintaining accounts, with fines of up to A$49.5 million for systemic failures. Early data shows over 4.7 million accounts were deactivated in the first two days, but surveys reveal persistent issues: around 31% of parents reported their children still had social media access post-ban, with 70% of under-16s retaining accounts on major platforms like Instagram and TikTok. The eSafety Commissioner’s report highlights lax enforcement, including repeated age-verification attempts by minors and poor mechanisms for reporting underage users. While platforms like Meta have claimed compliance and cited technical challenges, the government accuses them of ‘unacceptable’ practices and vows to penalize systemic failures. The investigation underscores tensions between tech companies and regulators over enforcement of child protection laws.
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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 ban, effective December 10 2024, prohibits users under 16 from holding accounts on the listed platforms, with fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$33.9m) for systemic failures.
- Over 4.7 million accounts were deactivated or restricted in the first two days after the ban took effect, according to data from the Australian government.
- The eSafety Commissioner’s report (released February 2025) alleges platforms allow underage users to repeatedly attempt age verification until they pass, and fail to block banned users from creating new accounts.
- Anika Wells (Communications Minister) stated platforms must obey Australian laws if they operate in the country, and eSafety will ‘throw the book’ at companies with systemic failures.
- The platforms covered by the ban include Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, Reddit, YouTube, Kick, and Twitch, with 10 platforms assessed under the new rules.
- A survey of 900 Australian parents found 31% of children still had social media accounts after the ban, down from 49% before the laws came into effect.
Points of Difference
Details reported by only one source:
- eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant mentioned ‘teething issues’ with age-assurance technologies when the ban was introduced, and that platforms had made ‘meaningful attempts’ to remove underage users in the first days.
- The definition of platforms covered by the ban was updated in January 2025 to include those with infinite scroll, feedback features (likes/upvotes), and time-limited elements (disappearing stories).
- Meta (Facebook/Instagram) reported closing 550,000 accounts, while Snapchat and TikTok combined closed 665,000 accounts since the ban.
- A survey of 900 parents found 70% of under-16s who had accounts on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok before the ban still maintained access, with 63.6% of Facebook users, 69.1% of Instagram users, 69.4% of Snapchat users, and 69.3% of TikTok users retaining accounts.
- Meta stated age verification is challenging at the 16-year-old boundary, citing the government’s own Age Assurance Technology Trial’s ‘natural error margins’ and called for app store/OS-level age verification.
- TikTok and Google did not respond to requests for comment by publication time in the Guardian’s article.
- The compliance report found platforms were making it easy to circumvent age-assurance measures, though no specific details were provided.
- The article explicitly states the eSafety commissioner is ‘set to release a compliance update’ on Tuesday, implying a scheduled event rather than a retrospective report.
Contradictions
Conflicting information between sources:
- ABC reports 4.7 million accounts were deactivated in the first two days of the ban, but the Guardian notes the government declined to provide a disaggregated breakdown of how many accounts were removed from each platform.
- The Guardian states 70% of under-16s retained accounts on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, while ABC does not provide a comparable percentage for these platforms in its reporting.
- ABC mentions the ban was introduced on December 10 2024, but the Guardian does not specify the exact date of the ban’s implementation, only that it was ‘last December’.
- The Guardian reports TikTok and Google did not respond to comment requests, while ABC does not mention whether TikTok or Google responded to inquiries about the investigation.
- Newscomaustralia implies the eSafety update was a scheduled release on a specific day, while ABC and the Guardian frame it as an update on ongoing investigations without specifying a release date.
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