According to a report by Australia's online safety regulator, children in the country can easily circumvent the minimum age restrictions set by social media platforms before a government-enforced ban for those under 16. The report, which compiled data from a national survey on social media usage among eight to 15-year-olds, also included input from services like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch.
Australia established a ban for children under 16 on social media, slated to be effective by the end of 2025, leading the way for global standards. Most social media companies do not permit users under 13 on their platforms.
The report revealed that in 2024, 80% of Australian children aged eight to 12 utilized social media, with YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat being the most popular platforms. YouTube is an exception, allowing under-13 usage when linked to a family account under parental supervision. However, none of the eight to 12-year-olds with accounts faced closure due to underage access.
Almost all teens under 16 were found to use at least one of the surveyed services. While most platforms requested users' birthdates during sign-up, they relied solely on self-disclosure without additional age verification tools.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant highlighted the need for social media platforms to enhance age verification mechanisms to comply with upcoming minimum age legislation. Although some platforms like TikTok, Twitch, Snapchat, and YouTube employed tools to detect underage users, others did not, despite having the technology available.
The report indicated that a majority of platforms were researching ways to bolster their age verification processes, and some had established user-friendly procedures to report underage users.