Social media ban for kids sees nearly 5 million accounts shut in Australia

Meta Platforms and other major social media platforms blocked 4.7 million underage accounts in Australia last month as the country’s landmark social media ban for under-16s took effect.

Access to the accounts was removed in the first half of December, online regulator eSafety said Friday, citing initial figures gathered from operators. The law took effect December 10.

Australia’s world-first crackdown was a response to growing concerns about online harms, and the number of blocked accounts highlight the scale of underage social media use in a population of 28 million.

Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, said this week it had shut almost 550,000 accounts to meet the requirements of the new law.

ESafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said it was too early to say whether platforms are fully complying with the legislation, though she said the early numbers were encouraging. The number of accounts blocked on each platform wasn’t disclosed.

“Effective age assurance may take time to bed down,” Inman Grant said. “Longer-term normative changes and related positive impacts on Australian children and families may take years to fully manifest.”

Bloomberg.