Millions of Australian social media accounts held by children have been culled since new age limits took effect and safety regulators are now looking “closely” at the data to ensure all platforms are complying. Source: ABC News.
More than 4.7 million accounts on platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat were deactivated in the first two days of the ban that started on December 10, according to new data released by the federal Government.
Preliminary analysis by the eSafety Commissioner has found social media companies affected by the new laws have been making “meaningful attempts” to prevent underage users from holding accounts.
The platforms were required to provide the data to eSafety as part of the laws introduced by the Albanese Government.
Earlier this week Meta revealed it removed 330,000 users from Instagram, 173,000 from Facebook and 39,000 from Threads between December 4 and 11 last year.
The company remains critical of the age restriction, arguing it has isolated vulnerable teens from support in online communities and driven them to less regulated apps.
Despite the complaints from Meta, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was “encouraging” social media companies were making a “meaningful effort” to comply with laws and keep kids off their platforms.
Communications Minister Anika Wells said the deactivation numbers from the start of the ban were a “huge achievement”.
“While it’s early, every account deactivated could mean one extra young person with more free time to build their community and identity offline,” she said.
Ms Wells said the Government was aware there was “more work to do” and confirmed eSafety was looking “closely” at the data to determine what it revealed about individual platforms’ compliance.
“We’ve said from the beginning that we weren’t expecting perfection straight away — but early figures are showing this law is making a real, meaningful difference,” she said.
Social media companies face fines of up to $50 million if they do not take “reasonable steps” to restrict under-16s from holding an account.
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More than 4.7m social media accounts closed in two days after ban began, data reveals (By Clare Armstrong, ABC News)
