Platforms deactivate about 4.7 million under‑16 social accounts after new ban

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner and government ministers announced that social media companies reported roughly 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to users under 16 were deactivated, removed or otherwise restricted in the wake of a landmark law that came into force on December 10. The figure is being presented by regulators as the first hard compliance metric since the world‑first ban took effect.

Julie Inman Grant, the eSafety Commissioner, described the tally as “encouraging,” saying regulatory guidance and engagement were “already delivering significant outcomes,” while cautioning that the numbers are preliminary and that some underage accounts remain active. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the move “world‑first,” and Communications Minister Anika Wells hailed the deactivation numbers as a “huge achievement” that would help parents “have their childhoods back.”

The law makes it unlawful for people under 16 to hold accounts on mainstream platforms covered by the legislation and requires companies to take “reasonable steps” to prevent and remove underage accounts and to report data to the eSafety regulator. Failure to comply can lead to fines of up to A$49.5 million, roughly US$33 million. Platforms are expected to allow users identified as under 16 to download their data before an account is removed.

Major services named in the legislation include Meta’s Facebook, Instagram and Threads; Google’s YouTube; TikTok; Snapchat; X; and Reddit. Meta reported removing about 550,000 accounts across Instagram, Facebook and Threads that it understood to belong to under‑16 users. Platforms provided aggregate removal figures to the regulator but did not release a full platform‑by‑platform breakdown beyond Meta’s disclosed number.

Timing and classification of the 4.7 million figure have drawn scrutiny. Government and regulator statements framed the tally as covering the period after the law took effect; subsequent accounts have varied, with some placing the number within the first month and others saying more than 4.7 million accounts closed in the first two days of enforcement. The eSafety office has begun a reconciliation process to examine submitted data closely and determine whether platforms’ actions meet the statutory standard of “reasonable steps.”

Implementation questions remain. Some companies said they would offer an option to deactivate and retain account data until a user reaches an older age, potentially 17, while others signaled different approaches to data access and account reinstatement. The regulator warned users not to rely on platforms to provide such options and said attention must now shift to preventing new account creation by children and stopping circumvention of the ban.

Legal challenges and ongoing oversight complicate the rollout. Reddit has said it will comply with elements of the law even as it pursues litigation seeking to overturn the legislation; the government has signaled it will defend the statute. Officials emphasized that enforcement, continued reporting and verification will determine the law’s long‑term effectiveness, leaving the 4.7 million figure as an early, contested metric in a high‑stakes regulatory experiment aimed at reshaping young people’s online access.