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Technology companies have deactivated or restricted access to 4.7mn social media accounts since Australia’s landmark ban on under-16s’ use of services including Instagram, X and TikTok came into force last month.
The companies told the country’s eSafety Commissioner that they had cut or reduced access to accounts they identified as belonging to children aged under 16.
With 2.5mn children between the ages of eight and 15 in Australia and many believed to have multiple accounts across different platforms, Julie Inman-Grant, the eSafety Commissioner, said on Friday there was still work to do to ensure the ban would achieve its ambition.
“The real impacts will not be measured just in days and weeks but actually in terms of years,” she said, describing the plan to wean children off addictive and potentially harmful social media content as “generational”.
Australia became the first country in the world to ban social media access for under-16s last month after it legislated to put the onus on technology companies to implement age verification technologies to stop children from holding accounts. Companies face fines of up to A$50mn (US$33mn) for systemic breaches of the law.
“We stared down everybody who said it couldn’t be done, some of the most powerful and rich companies in the world, and their supporters,” said Anika Wells, the communications minister. “And now Australian parents can be confident that their kids can have their childhood back.”
It remains unclear how many social media accounts were held by Australian children and teenagers prior to the ban across the 10 platforms covered by the law, which include YouTube, Snap and Facebook.
The government said some under-16s might have maintained access or managed to circumvent the ban.
Inman-Grant said the regulator would work with social media platforms to hone age verification processes and counter any “recidivism” where under-16s had sidestepped the laws by using fake accounts.
Meta said this week that it had removed more than half a million accounts across Facebook, Instagram and Threads since the ban came into force. It reiterated its view that a ban could isolate vulnerable teens reliant on social media.
Sceptics of the Australian ban have pointed to a surge in downloads of alternative social media apps, including Yope and Coverstar, suggesting younger users have transferred to other sites not covered by the ban. Inman-Grant said there had been a rise in downloads in recent weeks but that there was not a corresponding increase in usage of those apps.
She also said that smaller apps including Bluesky, ByteDance-owned Lemon8 and French app Yubo had been identified as social media platforms by the regulator so they could be included in the ban. “If the kids are there then they will be subject to these laws,” she said.
Other countries, including France and Malaysia, have moved to implement bans for teenagers. Pressure has also been building on the UK government to follow Australia’s lead. The Conservative Party has called for bolder action while Andy Burnham, a potential rival to Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership of the Labour Party, told the FT this week that he was open to a ban informed by evidence from the Australian experience.
The eSafety Commissioner has also opened investigations into X’s Grok over the use of AI to generate content that may sexualise or exploit people, particularly children.
