Australia investigates tech firms for under-16 social media ban violations
Consensus Summary
Australia’s government is investigating Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for potential non-compliance with a landmark under-16 social media ban introduced in December 2025. The ban, which applies to 10 platforms, prohibits users under 16 from holding accounts and requires companies to implement robust age verification. Over 4.7 million accounts were deactivated in the first two days, with Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok reporting closures of 550,000, 665,000 combined, respectively. However, surveys reveal persistent non-compliance: 31% of parents reported their children still had accounts, and 63-69% of under-16s maintained access on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. The eSafety Commission alleges platforms allow repeated age-verification attempts, fail to block banned users from creating new accounts, and have poor reporting mechanisms. Communications Minister Anika Wells accused companies of ‘unacceptable’ practices and threatened fines of up to A$49.5 million. While Meta defended its efforts, citing challenges in age verification, critics argue the platforms are undermining the law. The eSafety Commissioner’s compliance update, due on Tuesday, will likely scrutinize these failures further. The ban, championed by Australia as a global leader, faces scrutiny over its effectiveness despite initial success in reducing account numbers.
✓ Verified by 2+ sources
Key details reported by multiple sources:
- Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are under investigation for potential non-compliance with Australia’s under-16 social media ban (Guardian, SBS, ABC, NewsCorp).
- The ban, effective since December 10 2025, prohibits under-16s from holding accounts on 10 platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, Reddit, YouTube, Kick, and Twitch (Guardian, ABC, NewsCorp).
- Over 4.7 million accounts were deactivated or restricted in the first two days after the ban (Guardian, ABC).
- Meta reported closing 550,000 accounts, while Snapchat and TikTok combined closed 665,000 accounts (Guardian, NewsCorp).
- The eSafety Commission claims platforms allow repeated attempts at age verification until success, fail to block banned users from creating new accounts, and have poor reporting mechanisms for underage users (Guardian, ABC, NewsCorp).
- The maximum fine for non-compliance is A$49.5 million (US$33.9m) per company (Guardian, ABC, NewsCorp).
- A survey of 900 Australian parents found 31% of children still had social media accounts after the ban, down from 49% before (Guardian).
- Of under-16s who had accounts before the ban, 70% maintained access on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok (Guardian).
- The eSafety Commission’s compliance report states 63.6% of children still had Facebook accounts, 69.1% Instagram, 69.4% Snapchat, and 69.3% TikTok post-ban (Guardian).
- Anika Wells, Australia’s communications minister, accused platforms of ‘unacceptable’ systems and ‘obfuscation’ to undermine the law (Guardian, ABC, NewsCorp).
- The eSafety Commissioner will release a compliance update on Tuesday (Guardian, ABC, NewsCorp).
Points of Difference
Details reported by only one source:
- The Guardian reported that facial age estimation technology had higher error rates for users near the 16-year-old cutoff, with some platforms knowing children aged 14 or 15 would receive false results of being over 16.
- The Guardian included a quote from Anika Wells stating: ‘None of this is impossible. None of this is even difficult for big tech who are innovative billion-dollar companies.’
- The Guardian mentioned the government’s Age Assurance Technology Trial noted ‘natural error margins’ at the age-16 boundary.
- The Guardian highlighted that 48.5% of parents reported their children still had YouTube accounts post-ban.
- The Guardian stated the eSafety report claimed platforms were encouraging children to attempt age assurance even when their declared age was under 16.
- SBS summarized the compliance report as finding platforms were making it easy to circumvent age-assurance measures.
- ABC reported that eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant said there were ‘teething issues’ as platforms deployed new age-assurance technologies after the ban.
- ABC mentioned the government updated the definition of platforms covered by the ban to include those with infinite scroll, feedback features (likes/upvotes), and time-limited elements (e.g., disappearing stories).
- ABC noted that Discord, Google Classroom, WhatsApp, and Roblox are excluded from the ban.
- ABC included a statement from Anika Wells saying: ‘If eSafety finds these companies have systemically failed to uphold their legal obligations, I expect the commissioner to throw the book at them.’
- NewsCorp stated the ban was implemented after News Corp’s ‘Let Them Be Kids’ campaign, making Australia the first country to raise the age of access.
- NewsCorp emphasized that the ‘kind of tactics we’re seeing deployed by social media platforms to undermine Australia’s world-leading law are right out of the big tech playbook.’
Contradictions
Conflicting information between sources:
- The Guardian reported that 31% of parents said their children still had social media accounts after the ban, while the ABC did not provide a comparable statistic from its sources.
- The Guardian stated that 70% of under-16s who had accounts before the ban maintained access, but the ABC did not explicitly confirm this percentage in its reporting.
- The Guardian mentioned that TikTok and Google did not respond to requests for comment, while ABC did not mention this omission.
- The Guardian reported that the government declined to provide a disaggregated number of accounts removed from each platform, but ABC did not address this discrepancy.
- The Guardian included a quote from Meta stating age verification is challenging due to ‘natural error margins,’ while ABC did not reference Meta’s specific comments on this issue.
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