Social media sites block 4.7 million underage accounts in Australia

A teenager uses his mobile phone to access social media, Sydney, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (Dean Lewins/AAP Image VIA AP)

SYDNEY - Tech giants have blocked 4.7 million accounts under Australia’s world-first social media ban for under-16s, the country’s online safety watchdog said Friday.

Initial figures showed platforms were taking meaningful action to remove underage users, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.

“It is clear that eSafety’s regulatory guidance and engagement with platforms is already delivering significant outcomes,” she said in a statement.

Australia has required big platforms including Meta, TikTok and YouTube to stop underage users from holding accounts since the legislation came into force on Dec. 10 last year.

Companies face fines of Aus$49.5 million (US$33 million) if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to comply.

Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta said last week it had removed 331,000 underage accounts from Instagram, 173,000 from Facebook, and 40,000 from Threads in the week to Dec. 11.

But Meta repeated its call for app stores to be required to verify people’s ages and get parental approval before under-16s can download an app.

Fighting circumvention

This was the only way to avoid a “whack-a-mole” race to stop teens migrating to new apps to avoid the ban, the company said.

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner said it takes time to verify ages accurately, but it expects platforms to improve their performance.

“It is also the responsibility of industry to prevent circumvention, as outlined in eSafety’s industry guidance,” the regulator said.

Inman Grant said it was too early to say whether platforms were complying completely but early signs were encouraging.

“While some kids may find creative ways to stay on social media, it’s important to remember that just like other safety laws we have in society, success is measured by reduction in harm and in resetting cultural norms,” she said.

Downloads of lesser known platforms such as BlueSky and Lemon8 surged ahead of the implementation of the teen social media ban.

But both social media sites recognised that they were covered by the legislation, and they were cooperating with the Australian regulator, Inman Grant said.

“Given the vast number of online services and the fast-evolving nature of the tech industry, it’s impossible to list all of the services which meet the conditions and are obliged to comply with the social media minimum age obligation,” she said.

“As I have said for some time now, our compliance focus will remain on platforms with the highest number of Australian users.”