In a surprise to no one, Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat haven’t done enough to comply with Australia’s social media minimum age obligation, the country’s eSafety Commission has found. It is now “moving into an enforcement stance.”
In its first report on compliance with the social media ban for children under 16, the Commission found that social media operators have indeed taken “some steps” to comply with the landmark regulation and have even blocked around 5 million accounts.
However, the regulator also polled roughly 900 Australian parents, and the survey found that around 70% of under-16s who had accounts on Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok before the ban had maintained access to these platforms.
The eSafety Commission is furious. All these social media platforms are now under investigation for potential non-compliance with the rules, which came into effect last December and carry a maximum AUD $49.5 million ($33.9m) penalty.
“A substantial proportion of Australian children under the age of 16 continue to retain accounts, create new accounts, or pass platforms’ age assurance systems,” the report claims.
In response, the eSafety Commission is now “moving into an enforcement stance” and is planning to make a decision about any enforcement action by the middle of 2026.
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Australia’s communications minister, Anika Wells, said the companies weren’t doing enough to enforce the ban. That’s probably an understatement because it looks like the platforms are just playing around the rules.
For example, some platforms have been messaging children under 16 to encourage them to attempt age assurance, and in some cases, platforms have enabled kids to repeatedly attempt the same age assurance method to then obtain a 16+ outcome.
Besides, the report claims that pathways for reporting age-restricted accounts have generally not been accessible and effective, particularly for parents.
The Commission provides a particularly interesting example, describing a 12-year-old who signed up for a social media account two years ago, falsely claiming to be 14. The platform now thinks the user is 16 when, in fact, they’re 14.
One of the parents talked with the child, who said the platform hadn’t even attempted to verify their age.
“What we are seeing is evidence of the absolute bare minimum from social media companies. It’s straight out of the big tech playbook. They obfuscate, they try to throw doubt on any regulation,”
Anika Wells
The parent then requested that the platform close the child’s account, but the platform asked for a legal letter confirming the parent’s status. For the parent, this was too expensive a process, and so, the 14-year-old is still on social media – illegally.
“What we are seeing is evidence of the absolute bare minimum from social media companies. It’s straight out of the big tech playbook. They obfuscate, they try to throw doubt on any regulation,” said Wells.
The Australian ban is being closely watched by other countries considering similar age-based measures amid growing concerns about the impact of social media on children's health and safety.
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