Is Australia's teen social media ban failing? Meta, TikTok, Google, Snap, others face probe as access continues for most under-16s
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Is Australia's teen social media ban failing? Meta, TikTok, Google, Snap, others face probe as access continues for most under-16s")
Australia's social media law for teens was seen as a landmark. But it appears to be failing Photograph: (Others)
Australia is probing Meta, TikTok, Google and others as most under-16s retain social media access despite a ban. Weak enforcement and ineffective age verification systems threaten to defeat implementation of the landmark law, in effect since December
Nearly 70 per cent of Australian under-16s who had social media accounts before a landmark law banned it are still accessing them. The government is probing Meta, TikTok, Google, Snap and other tech firms over alleged failures to enforce the ban. The probe covers platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.
Australia's stringent law banning social media for teens
The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act, in force since December, designates Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit and several other platforms as “age-restricted”, requiring them to prevent under-16s from holding accounts. Penalties of up to A$49.5 million, or US$33.9 million, could be imposed on companies for non-compliance.
Under the law, the entire onus is on the platforms, as there is no penalty for children or parents if under-16s try to access social media using circumventions such as VPNs.
Law enforcement is lax, reveals survey
Trending Stories
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
However, the new eSafety Compliance Report and Survey, based on compulsory information from platforms and interviews with nearly 900 parents, found that implementation is far from perfect.
In the survey, 31 per cent of parents said their children still had at least one social media account after the ban. Among children who previously used Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok, about 70 per cent retained access. Platform-specific data showed similar trends, with 63.6 per cent of children keeping Facebook accounts, 69.1 per cent on Instagram, 69.4 per cent on Snapchat, 69.3 per cent on TikTok, and 48.5 per cent on YouTube.
Tech firms doing bare minimum, says minister
Australia’s communications minister, Anika Wells, said the companies were doing “the absolute bare minimum”, adding that “none of this is even difficult for big tech, who are innovative billion-dollar companies”.
Calling the update unacceptable, she said firms must comply: “If these companies want to do business in Australia, they must obey Australian laws.”
Australia's eSafety Commission blames weak enforcement
The eSafety Commission of Australia said overall account ownership declined, but a substantial proportion of children under 16 retained social media accounts, attributing this partly to weak enforcement systems. “The most common reason children still had their social media accounts was that they had not yet been asked by the platform to verify their age,” it said.
Some platforms allow repeated age-verification attempts and encourage underage users to try verification despite declaring an age below 16.
‘Deliberate resistance’
Technologies such as facial age estimation were deemed unreliable, especially near the age threshold, with concerns that some 14- and 15-year-olds could be classified as over 16.
Wells argued such shortcomings reflected deliberate resistance, with companies attempting to “throw doubt on any regulation”.
Meta says age verification is tough
For its part, Meta said age verification is an industry-wide challenge, citing “natural error margins” at the 16-year limit. It instead advocated stronger controls at the level of app stores and operating systems, including parental approvals.
According to the government, 4.7 million social media accounts were removed or restricted shortly after the ban. However, ongoing access by minors has raised doubts about the policy’s effectiveness.
