Why young people say the social media ban is not working six months on

Why young people say the social media ban is not working six months after it was introduced Sun 14 Jun 2026 at 5:47am Six months after the Australian government introduced its world-first social media ban, young people say it is not working. "I've had social media, and I have not been kicked off," Ned, 12, said. "Kids still have it and they're watching it," Jaxson, 13, said. "Everyone's getting around it," Giselle, 16, said. The eSafety commissioner's latest compliance update reported that 70 per cent of the 898 parents surveyed said their kids still had active social media accounts. BTN looked into why. How accurate are age checks? We know that when a user is asked to verify their age, they are given a few options to conduct the check. These differ depending on the platform, but one popular method is face scanning. "It's the easiest, the quickest and the least disruptive method," said Iain Corby, executive director of the Age Verification Providers Association. BTN tested out Yoti, the facial analysis service used by platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and Threads. We had 11 year nine students create a Yoti account. The app only told us whether users were under-18, close to 18, or over-18. Every student passed as under-18, although two 14-year-olds were estimated to be close to 18. The students also said face-scanning technology could be tricked. "I think I used my sister's face," said Vinaya, 14. "One of my friends printed out a photo of like Michael Jackson and used that on the face recommendation ID thing and it worked, and he got like 21 age plus," said Norman, 14. Yoti said it has developed technology to stop this type of thing from happening. "We also provide our own anti-spoofing technology, MyFace, to help ensure a real person is completing the age check, and a child is not using a photo, video or mask of an older person," Yoti replied in a statement. But Yoti also told BTN it didn't control whether these features were used by social media companies. "Platforms have the choice to use this live-ness detection technology to make their checks more effective," Yoti replied in a statement. Yoti also said social media companies could choose whether or not to use age buffers, which meant kids had to look older than 16 to pass the face scan, rather than exactly 16. "In Australia, no safety buffer approach has been mandated," Yoti replied in a statement. "Many implementations rely on a single age estimate [for example, 16+] rather than applying a defined safety margin. "For example, if a platform only wants users aged 16+ to access their content, they can choose to set a three-year safety buffer, increasing the threshold to 19 years and requiring users to be estimated as 19+." Experts say other forms of age verification, such as government ID checks or credit card authorisation, can be more effective than face scans. "I can get a more accurate assessment of your age by getting you to produce your [driver's] licence and take a picture of your driving licence, take a picture of you and that's maybe more secure," said Tony Allen, chief executive of the Age Check Certification Scheme. "It's also less privacy preserving." However, nothing is 100 per cent foolproof. "On each individual occasion, you stand about a one in 20 chance of being able to spoof it in some way," Mr Allen said. But this still doesn't explain why so many under-16s continue to be active on social media. Are social media companies doing enough age checks? Many experts say the failure of the social media ban has less to do with the age-verification technology being used, and more to do with how much it is being used. "I wasn't asked on any apps to verify my age," Amelie, 16, said. "I haven't yet," Jaxson, 13, said. "Not much of my friends have really been asked," Jack, 15, said. When the ban first came into effect, 4.7 million users had their accounts locked or deactivated. These were mostly users who had listed their age as under-16 when they created their account. But, since then, many have created new accounts, without having to verify their age. "We know that kids aren't being asked when they open an account, which is the obvious time to check because you've got no other data on a brand new user," Mr Corby said. "For TikTok, I just made another account," Giselle said. "You just make a new account. It's really easy to. And, like, they aren't as strict when you make a new account," Ollie, 12, said. What's being done? Communications Minister Anika Wells said the government was well aware of these problems. "We very much are [aware], and that's why I said in the run up to 10 December, when the ban started, we were never expecting perfection. A long way from it," Ms Wells said. "This was always going to look untidy; it's world-leading." Right now, eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant is investigating five platforms. "Everyone you'd expect: Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok," Ms Wells said. "And, you know, she'll continue to provide updates to us all about enforcement of the law." BTN reached out to these social media companies, but only Snapchat responded. It highlighted the complexity of age checks and its commitment to the ban. "Age assurance remains a complex, industry-wide challenge, and we are actively improving our approach as we learn more," Snapchat's spokesperson responded in a statement. "We remain committed to working constructively with the eSafety commissioner and support the shared goal of improving online safety for young Australians." These sentiments have been echoed by TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube in statements they have posted online. But some say they're not as committed to keeping under-16s off their platforms as they claim. "Big tech wants this to fail, you know," Ms Wells said. "Big tech wants under-16s to find their way around a ban. "Big tech wants to ensure that this looks messy and people are talking about it not working, so that they can throw up their hands and tell all of the other countries watching on that they shouldn't bother." Mr Allen said: "There is a strategic geopolitical risk for these companies ... they don't necessarily want [a ban] to look easy and they don't necessarily want it to look like it could work." Mr Corby said: "I think the tech companies are extremely worried that if it's seen to be a success, other countries will follow. So effectively they're sabotaging it."