eSafety study finds widespread underage use of social media
Make us a preferred source
Make us a preferred source on Google
The news: Children aged between eight and 15 are easily circumventing minimum age rules put in place by major social media companies including Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube, a new study by the online safety regulator has revealed.
The report, which combined a national survey of children in this age range and information from social media companies about their enforcement of age restrictions, found the four platforms were the most popular among under 13s. YouTube is the only platform that allows access to users under this age when attached to a family account with parental supervision. It's also exempt from the Albanese government's social media ban for under 16s.
The numbers: Snapchat says of 8.3 million monthly active users in Australia, 440,000 are aged 13-15.
Of Instagram's 19 million users, around 350,000 were in the same age group.
Of YouTube's 25 million users, 325,000 were aged 13-15 and for TikTok the figure was around 200,000 among its 10 million reported users.
The context: Capital Brief has reported on Meta and TikTok's criticism of the government’s decision to give YouTube a carveout from controversial new social media age restrictions after Labor kicked off a private consultation process.
The social media ban, which was passed late last year after a one-day consultation period, allows the Communications Minister to fine companies up to $50 million if children 16 and under are repeatedly able to access their social media platforms.
What they said: In a statement accompanying the new report, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said, “social media services not only need to make it harder for underage users to sign up to their services in the first place, but also make sure that users who are old enough to be on the service, but are not yet adults, have strong safety measures in place by default”.
“Few have any real stringent measures in place to determine age accurately at the point of sign-up so there’s nothing stopping a 14-year-old for instance entering a false age or date of birth and setting up an unrestricted adult account that doesn’t carry those extra safety features," she said.
Inman Grant added that if underage kids can enter a false age when signing up to social media platforms, the reported figures on monthly active users under the age of 18 likely underestimate the true numbers.
A TikTok spokesperson said, “As a platform, the safety of our more than 9.5 million users is our highest priority and we are pleased that eSafety has recognised the best practice work we do to keep young people safe."
“Since the start of 2023, our industry leading, proactive age detection tools, have resulted in the removal of more than one million Australian users suspected of being under the age of 13."
“This report again shines a spotlight on the Government's decision to give an exclusive carve out to the most popular social media platform for young Australians from the under 16 ban. Australian parents and guardians have a right to know what evidence, if any, supports the Government’s decision, so they can have confidence their children are safe on any exempted platforms,” the TikTok spokesperson said.
The source: eSafety Commissioner
