Australia's Social Media Ban for Teens Has Early Problem

Australia's attempt to lock out teens from social media is running into trouble at login. A new follow-up study by a team that helped design the system found major platforms are largely skipping the basic step of checking whether users claiming to be 16 actually are. On 50 test accounts created after the law took effect—with ages set to 16 on sign-up—none were asked to prove their age, reports Reuters. All the accounts remain active across nine platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, and X.

The finding spotlights a gap in a law billed as a world first, which since December has required platforms to block under-16s and to take "reasonable steps" to verify ages. While sites do reject users who openly say they are under 16, they're relying on low-friction "age inference" tools that appear to be missing minors who lie. One X test account was shown pornographic content, and others got ads for youth banking products, suggesting the platforms recognized a younger audience. Only Australian live-streaming site Kick demanded proof of age. Mashable notes that similar national bans are in the works in places including Canada, the UK, and Indonesia, despite the difficulty of enforcement.