‘Every account deactivated could mean one extra young person with more free time to build their community and identity offline,’ said Minister Anika Wells.
The eSafety commissioner says nearly 5 million social media accounts belonging to users aged under 16 have been deactivated or removed in the two days after the Australian government’s social media ban came into effect on Dec. 10.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) projections based on the most recent census, there are approximately 1.91 million young people aged 10-15 in Australia, suggesting that almost every affected young person had at least two accounts.
Julie Inman-Grant said her office has been closely monitoring social media platforms since the laws took effect, and she was “very pleased with these preliminary results,” which showed that major platforms are taking meaningful action to prevent under-16s from holding accounts.
“It is clear that eSafety’s regulatory guidance and engagement … is already delivering significant outcomes,” she said.
She acknowledged reports that some under-16s accounts remain active and cautioned that it was too early to determine if the plan is a success.
“Success is measured by reduction in harm and in resetting cultural norms,” Inman-Grant said.
“Speed limits, for instance, are not a failure because some people speed. Most would agree that roads are safer because of them. Over time, compliance increases, norms settle, and the safety benefits grow.”
She said the full effects of the ban won’t be measured in weeks or months “but will likely be generational.”
Government ‘Stared Down’ Tech Critics: Minister
Responding to the data, Communications Minister Anika Wells said the ban succeeded only after the government “stared down” critics, including some of the most powerful and rich companies in the world and their supporters.
“Now Australian parents can be confident that their kids can have their childhood back,” she said.
Wells said eSafety would analyse the evidence to determine which platforms were performing well and which needed to improve.
“We know there’s more work to do, and the eSafety Commissioner is looking closely at this data to determine what it shows in terms of individual platforms’ compliance,” she said.
“While it’s early, every account deactivated could mean one extra young person with more free time to build their community and identity offline.”
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the 4.7 million reduction showed the ban was working.
“Meaning that young people, instead of being on their devices during their school holidays, have been cycling around … have been reading books, have been engaging with their friends and family on a one-to-one basis, interacting, making an enormous difference to them,” he said at a press conference in Brisbane on Jan. 16.
He called the ban a source of “Australian pride” and predicted it would likely be emulated around the world.
Australia was the first country to introduce an outright ban, and since then, the UK, Malaysia, France, and New Zealand have all said they will consider similar legislation.Methods used to determine age included digital ID, face scans, and sophisticated algorithms detecting the surfing habits of users.
Some Platforms Remain Exempt
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, this week said it had taken down more than 540,000 Australian user accounts even before the ban took effect.
Between Dec. 4 and 11, it had removed 330,639 Instagram accounts, 173,497 Facebook accounts, and 39,916 Threads accounts it believed belonged to people younger than 16.
The platforms forced to implement the restrictions are Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube.
However others, such as Discord and Roblox, are exempt, despite reports that such platforms can be unsafe for young people.
Last year, Revealing Reality found children were exposed to “deeply disturbing” content on Roblox. And despite the platform making extensive changes in response to that report, a subsequent review found that “it’s still remarkably easy to create an account with a false age.”
In the United States, the New Jersey attorney-general has filed a lawsuit accusing Discord of deceptive practices that endanger children, citing insufficient age verification and ineffective safety filters, while individual families have taken action against the platform, alleging that their children were exploited through interactions that began there.
Given the vast number of online services and evolving nature of the tech industry, Inman-Grant conceded that it was “impossible” to list all of the services that meet the conditions and are obliged to comply with the social media ban legislation.
“As I have said for some time now, our compliance focus will remain on platforms with the highest number of Australian users.”
