Overview
- The eSafety regulator’s first three-month report, published on Friday, found more than eight in ten Australian teenagers continued to use age‑restricted platforms after the under‑16 ban began in December.
- Account ownership fell from about 52% to 42% but overall reported platform use only dropped modestly from roughly 86% to about 81%, with many children saying platforms never asked them to verify their age.
- eSafety and independent tests identified failures in age‑assurance systems: firms often did not escalate initial age guesses to formal checks and some systems misclassified users as over 16.
- In response, the government has moved to double maximum fines for non‑compliance and broaden the regulator’s power to compel evidence from Meta, Snap, TikTok and Google as investigations continue.
- The report has pushed other countries to press ahead with age limits while brands plan to shift youth marketing into streaming, gaming and direct channels and rights groups warn verification may raise privacy and exclusion risks.