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Australian plan to keep children off social media fails
2026-07-14 15:41:00 / MISTERE&KURIOZITETE
As the European Commission prepares to introduce Europe-wide restrictions on minors' access to social media, the latest data from Australia, the first country to impose such a ban, shows that the results are disappointing.
A study by experts who designed the restrictions confirms that users under the age of 16 can easily bypass the measures by declaring a false age when creating an account.
Social media companies are required to take "reasonable steps" to comply with the rules, while the Australian government has recommended the use of several verification methods to confirm users' age.
However, several studies have shown that the ban is not working, forcing the government last month to double fines and warn platforms of legal action if they fail to comply.
The new analysis was carried out by a group of experts who last year tested age verification systems on more than 1,000 Australians. They found that none of the platforms required proof of age for 50 test accounts that were created claiming to be 16 years old.
"We were supposed to be asked to prove our age, but we were never asked to verify our identity or use any age confirmation method," Andrew Hammond, head of testing company KJR, which conducted the initial testing in 2025, told Reuters.
According to Hammond, all 50 test accounts still remain active on nine of the ten platforms subject to age restrictions, including Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.
Some of these accounts received ads for banking products aimed at young people, indicating that the platforms had recorded the declared age group of the users. He also added that an account created on Elon Musk's X platform, with a declared age of 16, was also exposed to pornographic content.
However, no platform allowed account creation when users declared they were under 16. Only one of them, the Australian live streaming platform Kick, refused account creation without a document proving age.
Shortcomings in the verification process
This finding highlights a significant gap in the system. Until now, the process has focused largely on the accuracy of programs that estimate age through photos uploaded by users. But the first stage of screening, which attempts to determine an age bracket based on a person's overall online activity, is failing to identify underage users for further screening.
A Meta spokesperson stated that Hammond's testing did not comply with the regulatory authority's guidelines, according to which official age verification is only required when a user's behavior raises suspicions that they may be a minor.
According to him, the test accounts had declared an age above the minimum allowed limit and it was not clear whether they had published content or interacted in the way a real user under 16 would act.
On the other hand, a representative of the Kick platform said that age estimation based on online behavior is not practically possible, as the platform is still new and does not have sufficient data to make such predictions.
Meanwhile, the Australian Online Safety Commissioner's office stated that it remains confident that platforms subject to age restrictions have the necessary technology and resources to prevent children under 16 in Australia from creating accounts.
Some of the experts who participated in the initial testing said they had warned that the study did not analyze real ways of circumventing the restrictions, such as the use of false birth certificates by minors.
"We wanted to test that aspect as well, but we were constantly told it wasn't part of this project," said Cole Gannon, executive director of the Australian branch of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, which had an advisory role on the program.
"Today we are seeing that avoiding restrictions has become the main method used by young people," he added.
Amanda Third, a youth digital rights researcher who also participated as an advisor in the testing and is now part of a two-year study on the impact of the ban, said that platforms were initially expected to focus on accounts where users themselves declared themselves to be minors, before moving on to more advanced age assessment methods.
"In the next round of data collection, after this phase, we may see much more meaningful results," she concluded.
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