On Thursday, the Australian Government announced that nearly 5 million Australian youth social media accounts had been disabled or removed one month after the social media ban for young people under the age of 16. This is the first time that the law has been published since its implementation, and a number of countries are now following closely whether it will serve as a blueprint for protecting children from the dangers of social media or as a warning case highlighting the challenges of such attempts.
The ban requires 10 social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Reddit, to prohibit users under 16 years of age from using their services. The Act, which came into force last December, provides for fines of up to $49.5 million if businesses fail to take “reasonable measures” to remove underage users. Australia ‘ s Prime Minister Anthony Albanis praised the law as the world ‘ s first initiative to protect adolescents from the harm and potential misuse of mental health through social media. He said on Thursday that it was encouraging to see that social media companies were making meaningful efforts to keep children away from the platform. “change will not happen overnight”, he said, “but now there are signs that it is important that we act to drive that change”.
The number of accounts removed provides only limited access to the impact of the ban. In the weeks following the entry into force of the law, many adolescents indicated that they were able to circumvent the prohibition by lying about their age or easily bypassing the system. The regulatory body responsible for the implementation and follow-up of the law has not published more detailed data, except for the announcement that companies have “removed” account access for some 4.7 million users under the age of 16. Instagram and Meta, the parent company of Facebook, said that nearly 550,000 related accounts had been removed before the ban came into effect. Several Governments, including Denmark, the European Union, France, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Malaysia, have indicated that they are considering a similar ban.
According to Julie Inman Grant, the Commissioner for Electronic Security, about 2.5 million young people between the ages of 8 and 15 in Australia, of whom about 84 per cent of children between the ages of 8 and 12 have at least one social media account, are not yet clear about the total number of accounts on the various platforms. She also acknowledged that there would still be minors in social media, but said that the success of the law should ultimately be measured by a wider reduction in harm, which could take years to show.
