Australia's under-16 social media ban fails verification

Australia's pioneering law banning social media accounts for users under 16 is failing at its initial age verification stage, according to a new study by the same testers who helped design the government's compliance regime. The research found that major platforms did not request proof of age for any of 50 test accounts that declared the user was 16 years old.

The law, which took effect on December 10, 2025, mandates that ten named platforms, including Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, take "reasonable steps" to bar children under 16 from having accounts. The government's recommended approach involves multiple checks, starting with an initial vetting stage that infers a user's age range from their online activity before escalating to more robust verification if needed.

However, the follow-up study by testing firm KJR found that none of the nine platforms tested triggered any request for age verification for the dummy accounts. All 50 accounts remain active. The sole exception was the Australian livestreaming service Kick, which refused to create an account without proof of age. Andrew Hammond, a director at KJR, stated that not once were the test accounts asked to verify...