No age checks for half of Australian kids but social media accounts still drop 10%

Social media account ownership by children under 16 years old has declined by over 10 percent in the first three months of Australia’s social media age restrictions, according to an assessment from the eSafety Commissioner.

The shift from legally requiring age verification, facial age estimation or some other form of “effective age assurance” to enforcing it is in its early days, so the data gathered so far largely reflects the willingness of social media companies to break the law.

‘Early days, early insights: Understanding experiences of social media age restrictions at the three-month follow-up’ follows more than 4,000 children and a parent for each over a two-year period. The report was composed in partnership with Stanford Social Media Lab and with support from an independent academic advisory group.

“At this early stage we’re not asking whether the policy has achieved its long term goal. Instead, we’re looking at whether the conditions needed for change are starting to emerge.”

The assessment looks at whether children still have social media accounts, how and why they continue to access social media, if there have been any changes in how children’s time is spent and what children and parents think about the restrictions.

One of its key conclusions is that for the policy of requiring effective age assurance to be measured against its long-term goals, the platforms would have to consistently follow the rules. So far, that has not happened.

eSafety is already investigating potential non-compliance by social media heavyweights, and Commissioner Julie Inman Grant writes in a blog post accompanying the report that “the primary reason” for the modest reduction in social media use by Australian children “appears to be ineffective implementation of age assurance measures by platforms.”

Her office has also opened civil penalty proceedings against Telegram under the Unlawful Material Codes and Standards, and Inman Grant states her readiness to carry out enforcement, including via any new regulatory tools bestowed by pending legislation.

The enforcement mechanisms and tools Inman Grant refers to will be important, because at least some platforms are gearing up to resist Australia’s law rather than comply with it. But the proposals for new tools and a digital duty of care are facing the expected resistance.

X argues in a submission to an Australian senate committee that the changes would compel anyone “affiliated” with the company to turn over documents, claiming this constitutes a conflict with international law, Reuters reports.

Accounts decline despite social media platforms flouting rules

The number of children with restricted social media accounts was 52.4 percent when Australia’s new rules took effect last December, and decreased to 42.1 percent 3 months later. Reductions ranged from nearly 10 percent for YouTube to just 1.2 percent (12.4 percent to 11.2 percent) for Facebook. The report breaks down the findings by demographic groups.

The reduction in use, however, was much smaller, with 81.5 percent of children still reporting use of an age-restricted platform, down only 4.4 percent from when the rules changed. Social media use, specifically, dropped only 2.9 percent to 57.7 percent. Parents were 10 percent more likely to think their children had stopped using the platforms, however.

Daily usage of online messaging platforms and video games increased by 11.8 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

Just over half of children say their account remained active because they were not asked to prove their age, as social media platforms flout the law. More than a third (37.1 percent) say their age is incorrectly listed as 16 or over on their account. Only 18.2 percent said a platform’s age check erroneously confirmed their age as 16 or above.

One of the more surprising takeaways, at least for some people, is that there is no single workaround popular among Australian children. Twelve percent say they have attempted to spoof an age check with methods like using make-up or someone else’s ID, 10.9 percent say their parents helped them and 8.5 percent opened a new account following deactivation. Only 7.4 percent used a VPN.

The impression among children that all their peers are using social media has dipped, as has the feeling that those not on social media are missing out. Parental impressions have changed similarly.

The incremental changes in internet use did not amount to a discernible difference in offline activities or “problematic online behaviors,” according to eSafety.

Parental support for the policy was nearly steady through implementation, falling half a point to 68.1 percent.

More evaluations are on the way, with the next expected later this year.

Article Topics

age verification  |  Australia age verification  |  eSafety Commissioner  |  legislation  |  regulation  |  social media