Australia’s eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has said teenagers slipping through the cracks of the world-first social media ban will be “booted off” in time, after under-16s boasted they were still on banned platforms in posts and comments on the prime minister’s accounts.
As the social media ban got under way on Wednesday, some platforms were still allowing accounts registered for 14-year-olds.
Of the 10 platforms identified by the eSafety commissioner as needing to comply with the ban, Kick, Threads, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, and X would not allow accounts registered with a birth date of 11 January 2011.
Twitch, Reddit and YouTube were still allowing such accounts to be registered as of Wednesday morning, Guardian Australia found.
Inman Grant told the ABC on Wednesday afternoon the misses could be attributed to teething problems related to late implementation by some platforms.
“TikTok, X and Reddit were the last few companies that communicated to their user base, so I think that you can assume that they were a little bit behind on some of their deployments,” she said.
The companies would be required to keep improving their implementation and those teens could “find themselves booted off at a later time”, Inman Grant said.
A spokesperson for Twitch said the company was implementing its restrictions to comply with the ban on Wednesday pending testing and validation.
All platforms had stated they would comply with the ban, with X being the last to reveal it was complying on Wednesday.
It is understood in YouTube’s case that the company is in the process of implementing the new restrictions over the coming days. Reddit was approached for comment.
Teens had already begun migrating to other social media platforms not covered by the ban, but the commissioner said new companies could be added to the list.
“We’ve written to about 15 companies including Lemon8 and Red Note and Yope. We’re starting these conversations,” Inman Grant said. “We knew that migration was going to happen, but what I would say is that, well, I think we’ll see teens lose interest pretty quickly.”
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Anthony Albanese described it as a “proud day” for him to be prime minister.
“Be proud today and remember this day, December 10. I think it will go with the other great reforms that Australia has led the world on,” Albanese said at a press conference to celebrate the launch at Kirribilli House.
Teens, parents, Nova radio host and ban campaigner Michael “Wippa” Wipfli, the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, and the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, were in attendance at the event.
Albanese praised the former opposition leader Peter Dutton for advocating for the ban, and described News Corp’s “Let Them Be Kids” campaign for the ban as “the most powerful use of print media I have seen for a very long period of time”.
“It is about, as well, importantly, pushing back against big tech. Saying that social media companies have a social responsibility.”
Albanese acknowledged it would not be perfect from day one.
“We’ll work through it.”
Some teens have gloated in posts about being able to bypass the ban. Some have said they were able to pass through visual age assurance checks and updating the birthdate on their account.
Inman Grant said cases like this would appear for the near future but would not deter the government.
“These isolated cases of teenage creativity, circumvention … and other ingenious ways that people will push boundaries will continue to fill newspaper pages, but we won’t be deterred, we’re playing the long game,” she said.
“Australia stands as a global changemaker firmly on the right side of history … The kids will be alright.”
Albanese told Nine’s Today program that the eSafety commissioner will issue notices to the 10 platforms initially identified in the ban to provide user numbers as of 9 December and 11 December, to check that the platforms have removed under-16s’ accounts – and have prevented those users from registering new accounts.
The communications minister, Anika Wells, described Wednesday as “the moment that sparked a movement”.
“Not that long ago, auto manufacturers told us that making compulsory seatbelts would break their business model. It couldn’t be done. Now, families choose cars based on who offers the safest features,” she said.
“Big tech could compete, like airlines, like auto manufacturers, to have the best safety record to offer their users. And that future is a little closer today because of this world-leading law.”
Wayne Holdsworth – a Melbourne father who campaigned for the law after his son, Mac, took his own life after being bullied online – said the ban, with education, would equip teens to be able to handle social media when they join at 16.
“Our kids will be looking down with pride, with the work that we’ve done, we have only just started,” he said.
Emma Mason has been campaigning for change since her 15-year-old daughter, Tilly Roswarne, died in February 2022. She held back tears as the PM spoke.
Mason said the moment felt like the end of a marathon - with another marathon ahead.
“I feel very excited but it’s the dawning of the next moment, which is to keep young people safe,” she said. “We’re all in. It’s not going to be perfect, it’s an evolving space, but, good God, it’s a good day to be an Australian.”
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
