Is Australia's Social Media Ban Working? What the First Ten Months Show
Australia's under-16 ban took effect on 10 December 2025. More than 5 million accounts were removed, yet 42% of under-16s still had one in March 2026.
Partly. Australia's ban on under-16s holding social media accounts took effect on 10 December 2025, and more than 5 million under-16 accounts were removed, deactivated or restricted by June 2026. But eSafety's early evaluation found 42.1% of under-16s still held an account in March 2026, down from 52.4%, mostly because platforms' age checks were weak. No platform has been fined yet; investigations into five are ongoing.
Australia became the first country to ban under-16s from holding social media accounts. The Social Media Minimum Age obligation took effect on 10 December 2025, and its first anniversary is on 10 December 2026. Other countries, including the United Kingdom, are copying it. So: is it working?
The honest answer after ten months is partly. The evidence so far comes from Australia's online safety regulator, eSafety, and its full evaluation runs until 2028.
What the ban covers
From 10 December 2025, age-restricted platforms must take reasonable steps to stop Australians under 16 from creating or keeping accounts.
| Age-restricted (eSafety's view) | Not age-restricted |
|---|---|
| Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X, YouTube | Discord, GitHub, Google Classroom, LEGO Play, Messenger, Pinterest, Roblox, Steam and Steam Chat, WhatsApp, YouTube Kids |
Online games and standalone messaging apps are excluded by the rules. Since an amendment on 25 March 2026, a service is only in scope if it also has a recommendation feed or a logged-in feature. Bluesky, Lemon8 and Wizz have chosen to apply 16 themselves (eSafety's platform list).
There are no penalties for children or their parents. Only platforms can be fined.
What has happened since
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 10 December 2025 | Ban takes effect |
| First half of December 2025 | About 4.7 million under-16 accounts lose access (eSafety) |
| 25 March 2026 | Rules amended to narrow which services are covered |
| 31 March 2026 | eSafety raises significant compliance concerns about Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube and moves to an "enforcement stance" (eSafety) |
| 28 June 2026 | Government says more than 5 million under-16 accounts removed, deactivated or restricted, and announces higher fines (Minister for Communications) |
| 31 July 2026 | eSafety publishes its early evaluation findings |
| 10 September 2026 | Parliament passes the enforcement law raising the maximum fine to 300,000 penalty units (Parliament of Australia) |
One of the poor practices eSafety found in March was letting children retry an age check until they got a result of 16 or over.
What the evaluation found
eSafety's early insights, published on 31 July 2026 with data from March 2026, are the best evidence so far:
- Fewer under-16s hold accounts, but many still do. The share holding a social media account fell from 52.4% to 42.1%.
- Most still use social media. Use with or without an account fell only from 85.9% to 81.5%.
- Fear of missing out fell from 43.3% to 36.3%.
- Why the ban leaks. Most under-16s who had accounts kept them or made new ones, and the main reason given was platforms failing to use effective age checks.
- Parents know less. Parents' awareness of their children's social media use fell, especially for girls and for 10 to 12 year olds.
The evaluation follows more than 4,000 children and families with Stanford University's Social Media Lab, and further findings are due through 2026, 2027 and 2028. Under the law, the Minister must start an independent review by 10 December 2027.
Fines and enforcement
The maximum fine for a platform was originally 150,000 penalty units, or A$49.5 million. In June 2026 the government announced it would double this, and the enforcement law that received assent on 11 September 2026 set it at 300,000 penalty units, currently A$109.2 million, according to eSafety. The same law gave eSafety new powers to demand information, including from age-check and app-store providers.
No fine had been issued as of early October 2026. eSafety said on 31 July that its investigations into the five platforms were ongoing and its "enforcement stance remains firm".
Do Australians support it?
Yes. A Pew Research Center survey of 2,064 Australian adults, taken from 30 March to 13 April 2026 and published on 1 October 2026, found 82% support restricting children's social media access (51% strongly, 30% somewhat). In the United States, 56% of adults support an under-16 ban.
What it means for other countries
Ten months in, Australia has shown that a ban can push millions of accounts off platforms, and that it leaks wherever age checks are weak. The UK has said it will use the Australian model, with rules expected in spring 2027. Malaysia and Brazil have their own rules in force, and Turkey's under-15 ban starts around 1 November 2026. Every country's status is in our social media age laws by country tracker.
Sources
- eSafety Commissioner. Social media age restrictions and which platforms are age-restricted.
- eSafety Commissioner. Platforms restrict access to 4.7 million under-16 accounts.
- eSafety Commissioner (31 March 2026). Five social media platforms flagged for compliance issues.
- eSafety Commissioner (31 July 2026). Early insights from eSafety's comprehensive evaluation project.
- Minister for Communications (28 June 2026). Stronger powers and double penalties.
- Parliament of Australia. Online Safety Amendment (Strengthening Enforcement for the Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2026.
- Pew Research Center (1 October 2026). What do Australians think about social media restrictions for kids?