Australia’s online safety regulator on Tuesday raised concerns over compliance by major social media platforms with the country’s social media ban for minors, warning that it is currently investigating the matter.

The regulatory body, eSafety, released a compliance report showing “a number of poor practices that give rise to compliance concerns,” including “enabling” minors to “repeatedly attempt the same age assurance method to ultimately” gain access to social media sites, and “insufficient measures to prevent new under-16 accounts from being created,” among other issues. The regulator announced that it notified platforms of these concerns and provided “expectations for improvement.”

Australia’s ban took effect on December 10, 2025, through the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024. According to eSafety’s commissioner, the ban aims to protect the mental health of internet users under 16-years-old, who may be negatively impacted by the “pressures and risks” of social media. Social media platforms including “Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X, YouTube, Kick and Reddit” are subject to age-restrictions and must ensure compliance with the ban. The commissioner is empowered to enforce compliance, including “civil penalties of up to $49.5 million.”

The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, responded to suspected non-compliance of social media platforms, stating that she will take an “enforcement stance” and investigate whether platforms have “not taken reasonable steps to prevent children under 16 from having an account.”

Many countries have considered similar social media restrictions for minors. The UK’s Online Safety Act came into effect in 2025 and requires stringent age verification in order to access any content deemed harmful to minors.

However, some rights groups have raised concerns around such restrictions. Amnesty International argued that the ban infringes on children’s fundamental rights to expression, information, and participation under international law, calling it an “ineffective quick fix.”

UNICEF Australia contended that social media comes with many positive aspects, including education and connecting socially. It said that blanket bans are unlikely to “fix the problems young people face online” and instead encouraged the government to work to make social media safer for young people.