The Albanese Government’s social media minimum age law is proving effective, with millions of under-16 accounts already deactivated, removed or restricted.
Preliminary analysis from eSafety shows age-restricted social media platforms are making meaningful attempts to prevent under-16s from holding accounts, as required by the new law that began on 10 December.
“Our Government has acted to help keep kids safe online,” said Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“It’s encouraging that social media companies are making meaningful effort to comply with laws and keep kids off their platforms.”
“Change doesn’t happen overnight. But these early signs show it’s important we’ve acted to make this change.”
“We want our kids to have a childhood and parents to know we have their backs.”
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The preliminary figures were obtained as part of a first tranche of information provided to the eSafety Commissioner.
As Australia’s online safety regulator, eSafety will continue to closely monitor platforms to assess their compliance and ensure they are meeting their obligations.
“More than 4.7 million under-16 social media accounts being deactivated because of our world-first social media minimum age law is a huge achievement,” added Minister for Communications, Anika Wells.
“While it’s early, every account deactivated could mean one extra young person with more free time to build their community and identity offline.”
“We know there’s more work to do and the eSafety Commissioner is looking closely at this data to determine what it shows in terms of individual platforms’ compliance.”
“We’ve said from the beginning that we weren’t expecting perfection straight away – but early figures are showing this law is making a real, meaningful difference.”
Since the launch of the education campaign on the social media minimum age, the eSafety website has recorded more than one million visits, showing Australians are engaging with the ban and are seeking clear, reliable information about the changes.
Families and young people can find information, resources and advice about the social media minimum age at eSafety’s social media age restrictions hub.
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