Tech firms warn against reading too much into early Australia teen ban data
Social media firms caution Australian lawmakers against over-reliance on early data suggesting most teens still use platforms despite the under-16 ban.
Top social media platforms have urged Australian lawmakers not to draw firm conclusions from early data suggesting most minors are still using their services, months after a landmark under-16 ban took effect. The caution came during a Senate inquiry where officials from Google, Meta, Snapchat, and TikTok faced questions about compliance with the December law.
Lawmakers pointed to multiple studies, including one from Australia's internet regulator, indicating that around 80% of minors remain active on social media. The eSafety Commissioner is separately considering legal action against some platforms, accusing them of deliberately slowing compliance to discourage other countries from adopting similar bans.
The inquiry is examining proposed amendments that would double maximum penalties to A$99 million (about $64 million) and expand the commissioner's powers to compel information and documents from platforms and their third-party age assurance providers during investigations.
Rachel Lord, YouTube's head of government relations, said the data represents "a point in time" and is "very early on," cautioning against over-reliance on it. She noted that the government's latest published compliance data is from March and that age assurance technology is still evolving, having largely been built around an 18-year-old cut-off.
Meta's Australia head of public policy, Mia Garlick, said survey data may not accurately reflect whether underage users actually hold accounts. "There can be differences in terms of people accessing versus having an account," she said, adding that "survey data is challenging in terms of stated versus revealed."
Meta released figures a day earlier showing it had deactivated 756,000 Instagram and Facebook accounts suspected of belonging to underage users, up from about 500,000 in March. Google said it has stopped about 740,000 account holders from using their credentials to access YouTube.
TikTok's Australian head of public policy, Jessica Loftstedt, described the company's compliance efforts as an "iterative process." TikTok removed 550,000 accounts when the law took effect and has since been removing about 24,000 per month.
The eSafety Commissioner is scheduled to testify at the inquiry later on Friday.