In November, the Australian Senate passed a law banning children under 16 from using social media, which will come into effect in 2025. However, a new report from eSafety shows that this restriction will require additional measures because children lie about how old they are, Reuters reports.
Australia's independent regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, combined data from a national survey on social media use by children aged 8 to 15 with reports from YouTube, Facebook, Twitch and other platforms. The study found that age restrictions set by platforms are not effective.
According to eSafety, 80% of Australian children under the age of 12 used social media in 2024. The most popular platforms are YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat. Although all popular services, except Reddit, require a date of birth when registering, there is no way to verify it without documents, so children often lie about their age to get around the restrictions.
"There is still significant work to be done by any social media platforms relying on truthful self-declaration to determine age with enforcement of the government's minimum age legislation on the horizon," said eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant.
Social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat prohibit children under 13 from registering, but the report shows that such restrictions are not working at all. The only platform that does not have a restriction for children under 13 is YouTube, but here children are required to have an account connected to their parents' profile. The video platform itself is not planned to be included in the upcoming ban.
If we expand the survey on social media usage to include teens under 16, the figure rises to 95%. However, only TikTok, Twitch, Snapchat, and YouTube use tools to identify and remove profiles of children under 13. Other platforms, which also have all the necessary tools, do not employ similar practices.
A TikTok spokesperson said that since 2023, the platform has removed more than a million child accounts from Australia thanks to its age-verification tools. Meanwhile, Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, says that age-restriction should be the responsibility of app stores like the Play Store or the App Store.
The eSafety website says the social media ban for Australian children will come into effect by December 2025, with details expected to emerge later this year on how the Australian government and social media platforms plan to implement the new restrictions. One of the biggest concerns is that platforms will not be able to require users to provide government-issued identification.
Australia’s ban on social media for children under 16 is unique, and its implementation is being closely monitored by governments in many countries. According to eSafety research, existing tools on platforms may not be enough to effectively enforce such restrictions. Over the course of the year, the Australian government and media companies will need to find new solutions that both protect users’ privacy and ensure the ban is effective.