Australia social media ban removes 4.7 million teen accounts beneath new legislation

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Social media firms have eliminated entry to hundreds of thousands of accounts belonging to youngsters in Australia within the first month because the nation’s historic ban took impact, requiring platforms comparable to Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok to determine and deactivate customers beneath the age 16.

Entry was revoked for roughly 4.7 million customers, in accordance with Australian officers, who on Friday touted the early success of the law , which was enacted in mid-December amid fears surrounding the affect of on-line environments on younger folks.

"Right this moment, we will announce that that is working," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mentioned throughout a information convention. "It is a supply of Australian satisfaction. This was world-leading laws, however it's now being adopted up all over the world."

Beneath the legislation, 10 social media giants — Fb, Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat, Kick, Reddit, Threads, Twitch and YouTube — should find and deactivate accounts of Australian customers beneath the age of 16. The businesses face fines of as much as $33 million in the event that they don’t take "cheap steps" to take away underage customers.

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Australia’s prime minister celebrated the success of a brand new legislation, which requires social media platforms comparable to Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok to determine and deactivate customers beneath the age of 16. (Tracey Nearmy/Getty Pictures; Anna Barclay/Getty Pictures)

"We stared down everyone who mentioned it couldn’t be carried out, a few of the strongest and wealthy firms on the earth and their supporters," mentioned Australian communications minister Anika Wells. "Now Australian dad and mom could be assured that their youngsters can have their childhoods again."

Based on Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, there are roughly 2.5 million Australians between the ages of 8 and 15, with about 84% of 8 to 12-year-olds having at the very least one social media account. Whereas the overall variety of accounts throughout platforms is unknown, Inman Grant mentioned the variety of deactivated or restricted accounts was encouraging.

"We’re stopping predatory social media firms from accessing our youngsters," she mentioned at a information convention.

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Critics of the brand new ban have argued that will probably be tough to implement, and Inman Grant acknowledged that there are nonetheless some energetic underage accounts.

"We do not count on security legal guidelines to eradicate each single breach. If we did, velocity limits would have failed as a result of folks velocity, consuming limits would have failed as a result of, imagine it or not, some youngsters do get entry to alcohol," she mentioned.

She added that primarily based on knowledge reviewed by her workplace, there was a rise in downloads of different apps after the ban began , however not a spike in utilization.

Social media platforms can confirm age by both requesting copies of identification paperwork, utilizing a 3rd social gathering to use age estimation expertise to an account holder’s face, or making inferences from knowledge already out there, comparable to how lengthy an account has been energetic.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads , mentioned earlier this week that it had eliminated almost 550,000 accounts belonging to customers it believed had been beneath the age of 16 simply at some point after the ban started.

Whereas the legislation was common amongst dad and mom and baby security campaigners, on-line privateness advocates and teams representing youngsters largely got here out in opposition to it.

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A teen in Sydney holds a telephone displaying an Instagram age-verification message after the account was locked on Dec. 9, 2025. (AFP by way of Getty Pictures)

Different nations have weighed comparable measures in step with Australia , and a few American lawmakers have additionally signaled their curiosity in pursuing social media restrictions within the U.S.

"I feel we ought to have a look at what Australia’s doing, for instance, requiring entry to those social media platforms to not be out there to anyone beneath the age of 16," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, mentioned final month.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-In poor health., beforehand mentioned that "defending youngsters is an avenue that needs to be pursued."

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"I received’t rule out some kind of limitation in sales or distribution or use of these gadgets… Mother and father and grandparents want a serving to hand; that is getting out of hand," he mentioned.