Social media platforms have taken down about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children in Australia since the country enforced a ban on under-16s using major platforms, officials said.
Communications Minister Anika Wells said the government had proven critics wrong by compelling some of the world’s biggest tech companies to comply. “Now Australian parents can be confident their kids can have their childhoods back,” she told reporters on Friday.
The figures, submitted to the government by 10 platforms, offer the first indication of the impact of the landmark law, which came into force in December amid concerns about harmful online environments for young people. The move triggered heated debate over technology use, privacy, child safety and mental health and has prompted other countries to consider similar measures.
Under the law, Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube and Twitch can be fined up to A$49.5 million ($33.2 million) if they fail to take reasonable steps to remove accounts of Australian users under 16. Messaging services such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are exempt.
Platforms can verify age by requesting identification, using third-party facial age-estimation tools, or drawing inferences from existing account data, such as how long an account has been active.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said about 2.5 million Australians are aged 8 to 15 and previous estimates showed 84% of 8- to 12-year-olds had social media accounts. While it is unclear how many accounts existed across the 10 platforms, she said the 4.7 million “deactivated or restricted” accounts was an encouraging sign.
“We’re preventing predatory social media companies from accessing our children,” Inman Grant said, adding that the companies covered by the ban had complied and reported removal figures on time. She said enforcement would now focus on stopping children from creating new accounts or evading the restrictions.
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Australian officials did not release platform-by-platform numbers. However, Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, said it removed nearly 550,000 accounts believed to belong to under-16s by the day after the ban took effect. In a blog post, Meta criticised the policy and warned that smaller platforms not covered by the ban might not prioritise safety.
The law has been widely backed by parents and child-safety advocates, though privacy groups and some youth organisations oppose it, arguing that vulnerable or geographically isolated teenagers find support online. Some young users say they have bypassed age checks with help from parents or older siblings.