Australia removes 4.7M kids from social media platforms in first month of historic ban

Social media companies person removed entree to millions of accounts belonging to children successful Australia successful the archetypal period since the country’s historical prohibition took effect, requiring platforms specified arsenic Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok to place and deactivate users nether the property 16.

Access was revoked for astir 4.7 cardinal users, according to Australian officials, who connected Friday touted the aboriginal occurrence of the law, which was enacted successful mid-December amid fears surrounding the interaction of online environments connected young people.

"Today, we tin denote that this is working," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said during a quality conference. "This is simply a root of Australian pride. This was world-leading legislation, but it is present being followed up astir the world."

Under the law, 10 societal media giants — Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat, Kick, Reddit, Threads, Twitch and YouTube — indispensable find and deactivate accounts of Australian users nether the property of 16. The companies look fines of up to $33 cardinal if they don’t instrumentality "reasonable steps" to region underage users.

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Australia’s premier curate celebrated the occurrence of a caller law, which requires societal media platforms specified arsenic Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok to place and deactivate users nether the property of 16. (Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images; Anna Barclay/Getty Images)

"We stared down everybody who said it couldn’t beryllium done, immoderate of the astir almighty and affluent companies successful the satellite and their supporters," said Australian communications curate Anika Wells. "Now Australian parents tin beryllium assured that their kids tin person their childhoods back."

According to Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, determination are astir 2.5 cardinal Australians betwixt the ages of 8 and 15, with astir 84% of 8 to 12-year-olds having astatine slightest 1 societal media account. While the full fig of accounts crossed platforms is unknown, Inman Grant said the fig of deactivated oregon restricted accounts was encouraging.

"We’re preventing predatory societal media companies from accessing our children," she said astatine a quality conference.

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets constabulary officers during a sojourn to the NSW Police headquarters, pursuing a deadly shooting incidental during a Jewish vacation solemnisation astatine Bondi Beach, successful Sydney, Australia, Dec. 16, 2025.  (Hollie Adams/Reuters)

Critics of the caller prohibition person argued that it volition beryllium hard to enforce, and Inman Grant acknowledged that determination are inactive immoderate progressive underage accounts.

"We don't expect information laws to destruct each azygous breach. If we did, velocity limits would person failed due to the fact that radical speed, drinking limits would person failed because, judge it oregon not, immoderate kids bash get entree to alcohol," she said.

She added that based connected information reviewed by her office, determination was an summation successful downloads of alternate apps aft the prohibition began, but not a spike successful usage.

Social media platforms tin verify property by either requesting copies of recognition documents, utilizing a 3rd enactment to use property estimation exertion to an relationship holder’s face, oregon making inferences from information already available, specified arsenic however agelong an relationship has been active.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, said earlier this week that it had removed astir 550,000 accounts belonging to users it believed were nether the property of 16 conscionable 1 time aft the prohibition began.

While the instrumentality was fashionable among parents and kid information campaigners, online privateness advocates and groups representing teenagers mostly came retired against it.

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A teen successful Sydney holds a telephone displaying an Instagram age-verification connection aft the relationship was locked connected Dec. 9, 2025. (AFP via Getty Images)

Other countries person weighed akin measures successful measurement with Australia, and immoderate American lawmakers person besides signaled their involvement successful pursuing societal media restrictions successful the U.S.

"I deliberation we ought to look astatine what Australia’s doing, for example, requiring entree to these societal media platforms to not beryllium disposable to anybody nether the property of 16," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said past month.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., antecedently said that "protecting children is an avenue that should beryllium pursued."

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"I won’t regularisation retired immoderate benignant of regulation successful income oregon organisation oregon usage of those devices… Parents and grandparents request a helping hand; this is getting retired of hand," helium said.

Fox News Digital's Nora Moriarty, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.