In a significant move, social media platforms have deactivated millions of accounts operated by children in Australia following a groundbreaking law that mandates companies like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok to identify and remove users younger than 16.
Australian authorities have reported that access was denied to about 4.7 million users. Officials proudly highlighted the law’s early achievements, which was implemented in mid-December due to increasing concerns over the digital world’s influence on youth.
“Today, we can confirm the law’s effectiveness,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced at a press briefing. “This initiative is a point of national pride for Australia. While we led the way with this legislation, it’s now inspiring change globally.”
The legislation requires ten major social media companies—Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat, Kick, Reddit, Threads, Twitch, and YouTube—to find and deactivate accounts of Australian users under 16. If these platforms fail to take “reasonable steps” to eliminate underage users, they risk fines reaching up to $33 million.
Prime Minister Albanese commended the success of the new law, highlighting its requirement for social media platforms to identify and deactivate accounts of users under the age of 16.
“We faced down skeptics who doubted our ability to achieve this, including some of the wealthiest and most influential companies globally and their advocates,” stated Anika Wells, Australia’s communications minister. “Now, parents in Australia can be assured that their children can reclaim their childhoods.”
According to Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, there are roughly 2.5 million Australians between the ages of 8 and 15, with about 84% of 8 to 12-year-olds having at least one social media account. While the total number of accounts across platforms is unknown, Inman Grant said the number of deactivated or restricted accounts was encouraging.
“We’re preventing predatory social media companies from accessing our children,” she said at a news conference.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets police officers during a visit to the NSW Police headquarters, following a deadly shooting incident during a Jewish holiday celebration at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 16, 2025. (Hollie Adams/Reuters)
Critics of the new ban have argued that it will be difficult to enforce, and Inman Grant acknowledged that there are still some active underage accounts.
“We don’t expect safety laws to eliminate every single breach. If we did, speed limits would have failed because people speed, drinking limits would have failed because, believe it or not, some kids do get access to alcohol,” she said.
She added that based on data reviewed by her office, there was an increase in downloads of alternative apps after the ban began, but not a spike in usage.
Social media platforms can verify age by either requesting copies of identification documents, using a third party to apply age estimation technology to an account holder’s face, or making inferences from data already available, such as how long an account has been active.
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, said earlier this week that it had removed nearly 550,000 accounts belonging to users it believed were under the age of 16 just one day after the ban began.
While the law was popular among parents and child safety campaigners, online privacy advocates and groups representing teenagers largely came out against it.
A teenager in Sydney holds a phone displaying an Instagram age-verification message after the account was locked on Dec. 9, 2025. (AFP via Getty Images)
Other countries have weighed similar measures in step with Australia, and some American lawmakers have also signaled their interest in pursuing social media restrictions in the U.S.
“I think we ought to look at what Australia’s doing, for example, requiring access to these social media platforms to not be available to anybody under the age of 16,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said last month.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., previously said that “protecting children is an avenue that should be pursued.”
“I won’t rule out some sort of limitation in sales or distribution or use of those devices… Parents and grandparents need a helping hand; this is getting out of hand,” he said.
