The Tamesis
Nearly 5 million social media accounts belonging to Australian teenagers have been deactivated by companies including TikTok and Facebook (Meta) since the national government ban was imposed a month ago.
The country’s internet regulator said World’s first ban on teenagers under 16 Having an account had a swift and widespread impact.
The eSafety Commissioner said platforms had so far deleted around 4.7 million accounts of people under the age of 16 to comply with the law that came into effect on December 10. Some platforms said they would begin closing affected accounts weeks before the deadline.
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The figures represent the first data from the government on compliance and suggest platforms are taking significant steps to comply with a law that could see them fined up to A$49.5 million ($33 million) for non-compliance, but without liability for children or their parents.
The figure is significantly higher than estimates before the law, equating to more than two accounts for every Australian aged 10 to 16, based on population data. Meta previously said it removed about 550,000 underage accounts from Instagram, Facebook and Threads.
The minimum age rule also applies to Google’s YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat and Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter). Reddit said it was complying with the ban but was suing the government to overturn it. The government said it would defend itself.
“It’s clear that eSafety’s regulatory guidance and partnership with the platforms have produced significant results,” Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement.
She added that some underage accounts were still active and it was too early to declare full compliance. All companies initially covered by the ban have said they will comply.
Inman Grant said effective age checks would take time to put in place, but feedback from age assurance providers – often third-party software vendors hired by platforms – suggested the Australian rollout was going well, helped by public education ahead of the ban.
Some smaller social media apps have reported a surge in downloads in Australia ahead of their December launches, and eSafety said it would monitor the alleged migration trend. But the company said the initial download spike didn’t translate into sustained usage.
A study by mental health experts will track the long-term effects of the ban over several years.
- Reuters Additional editing by Jim Pollard
See also:
Australia begins banning social media for teenagers, but is this really the first?
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Australian law bans children under 16 from using social media
TikTok comes under fire from US law for ‘harmful’ impact on children
U.S. poll shows nearly half of Gen Z wish TikTok had never been invented
Big tech companies are doing “nothing” to combat rampant scams on social media
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