Sydney: Children in Australia are finding it easy to bypass the age restrictions imposed by social media platforms, a report by the country’s online safety regulator revealed on Thursday. The findings come as the Australian government prepares to enforce a landmark ban prohibiting access to social media for users under 16 by the end of 2025.
The report, published by eSafety, combines data from a national survey on social media usage among children aged 8 to 15, along with responses from eight platforms, including Alphabet’s YouTube, Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Amazon’s Twitch, and Snap’s Snapchat.
Despite most social media companies officially restricting access to users under 13, the report found that 80% of Australian children aged 8 to 12 used social media in 2024. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat were among the most popular platforms. While all services except Reddit required a date of birth at sign-up, they relied solely on self-declaration, with no additional measures to verify age.
Lack of Effective Age Verification
“There is still significant work to be done by any social media platforms relying on truthful self-declaration to determine age, especially with the government’s minimum age legislation on the horizon,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant stated.
YouTube, which is set to be exempt from the upcoming ban, is the only platform allowing under-13 users when linked to a family account with parental supervision. However, the report found that none of the surveyed children aged 8 to 12 reported having their accounts shut down for being underage.
The study also revealed that 95% of teens under 16 were active on at least one of the eight social media services analyzed. While TikTok, Twitch, Snapchat, and YouTube have tools to detect underage users proactively, other platforms have not implemented such measures, despite having the technology to do so.
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A TikTok spokesperson defended the platform’s approach, stating, “Since the start of 2023, our proactive age detection tools have resulted in the removal of more than one million Australian users suspected of being under the age of 13.”
Tech Industry’s Response
A spokesperson for Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said the company supports age-appropriate experiences for children online but argued that app stores should be responsible for enforcing age restrictions.
While Reddit declined to comment, Twitch, Snapchat, and YouTube did not immediately respond to requests for statements. The report noted that most platforms have conducted internal research to enhance age verification but have yet to implement widespread solutions. Some services do offer users an option to report underage accounts.
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The upcoming ban in Australia sets a precedent for other jurisdictions worldwide and is expected to put further pressure on social media companies to strengthen their age verification processes.
