Australia’s world-first teen social media ban was supposed to keep children under 16 away from popular platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, and X. While this was a major controversial change, it appears that getting around it was barely even a challenge.
Researchers created 50 test accounts across nine of the ten platforms covered by the law. Each account claimed its user was 16, the minimum permitted age. None of the platforms asked the researchers to provide proof or complete another age-assurance check. Only the Australian livestreaming platform Kick refused to create an account without a proper age verification.
Why platforms may already know about the young users
The findings also revealed more interesting details. Some test accounts received advertisements for youth banking products, which sort of suggests that the platforms had enough behavioral information to place them in a younger demographic. One account created on X with an age of 16 was reportedly even shown pornographic content.
Australia’s system was designed around layered age assurance. Platforms can begin with easier checks, like declared birthdays and account behavior, before escalating suspicious users to facial age estimation or another formal check. However, researchers found that the escalation did not happen during their test, with every account still being active.
Meta has disputed the test’s framing, arguing that the accounts declared themselves old enough and may not have behaved like genuine under-16 users.
Effective checks create another problem
Australia prohibits platforms from relying exclusively on government-issued identification because forcing every user to upload ID would create serious privacy concerns. Lightweight checks protect privacy and keep signup simple, but determined teenagers can bypass them. Tougher systems may require facial scans, identity documents, parental approval, or more.
Earlier research found that more than 85% of Australians aged 12 to 15 were still using restricted social platforms three months after the ban took effect. The government has since doubled the maximum potential fines and threatened legal action against companies it believes are failing to comply. Platforms initially claimed millions of suspected underage accounts had been removed. The continuing studies suggest that account removals alone do not prove that young users have actually left.
Australia’s experiment has also caused a big ripple across the globe, with governments like the UK, Europe, and the US also considering or introducing their own age restrictions for social media apps.
