Australia's teen social media ban fails to clear first hurdle in age checks, says study
Researchers found 50 test accounts passed sign-up without proof of age, and only Kick required verification.
- On July 7, researchers reported Australia's teen social media ban is failing, as major platforms including Instagram and YouTube are not triggering required age checks for users declaring they are 16.
- Since December 2025, Australia has required platforms to bar users under 16, but the reliance on behavioral inference instead of government ID has drawn warnings from advisers about potential circumvention.
- KJR director Andrew Hammond said testing firm KJR opened 50 dummy accounts and found none were asked for age proof, though platforms served youth banking ads indicating they registered the users' age ranges.
- Last month, the government doubled the maximum fine and threatened lawsuits against five platforms for non-compliance, though operators argue they are following the regulator's "reasonable steps" guidance.
- Amanda Third, a youth digital rights academic participating in a two-year regulator study, noted platforms were initially expected to target self-declared underage accounts before escalating to inference methods, expecting "more impressive statistics" later.
39 Articles
39 Articles
Australia's Teen Social Ban for Teens Has Early Problem
Australia's attempt to lock out teens from social media is running into trouble at login. A new follow-up study by a team that helped design the system found major platforms are largely skipping the basic step of checking whether users claiming to be 16 actually are. On 50 test accounts...
The Australian ban on social media for teenagers under sixteen has not yet met expectations. Test accounts easily bypassed age checks on various social media platforms, and even when the accounts full of teen content were active for a while, they went undetected. At the same time, the test users were shown advertisements aimed at teenagers under sixteen.
Last December, Australia set an important precedent by becoming the first country in the world to ban access to social media for children under 16 years of age. However, its law enforcement is failing.Keep reading...
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 37% of the sources lean Left, 36% of the sources are Center
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
