Australia’s online platforms are stumbling at the very first step in implementing age checks for users, rendering a world-first teen social media ban ineffective, a study by a team that advised the government’s rollout of the curbs found.

According to a Reuters report from Sydney yesterday, since December, Australia’s new social media law has mandated that platforms including Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube ‌bar people under 16 years from having accounts.

Operators must take “reasonable steps” to comply, and the government has recommended using multiple checks to determine users’ age.

The ban, however, has been widely criticised, with studies suggesting most people under 16 are still able to access the platforms, prompting Australia to double the maximum fine last month and warn of court action against tech giants for non-compliance.

A team of software testers, according to the Reuters report, which last year trialled age-assurance software on more than 1,000 Australians, found that platforms did not ask for age proof on any of the 50 accounts it opened after the law came into force and on which it declared the age as 16, the researchers told Reuters.

The previously unreported finding reveals a largely overlooked flaw: while the process has so far focused on the ⁠accuracy of photo-based age-assurance software, the initial vetting stage — which guesses a person’s age range based on their general online activity — does not appear to be picking up young users for further checks.

“You should be asked to demonstrate how old you are, and not once have we been asked to verify our age or use age-assurance measures,” said Andrew Hammond, director at testing firm KJR, which ran the original trial in 2025.

All 50 test accounts are active and have been distributed among nine of the 10 platforms that are subject to the age restrictions, including Meta’s Instagram, Snap’s Snapchat, TikTok and Alphabet’s YouTube, Hammond said.

Some dummy accounts received advertisements for youth banking products, an indication the platform registered the person’s age range, Hammond said.

One account which signed up to Elon Musk’s X claiming to be 16 was served pornographic content, he added.

None of the platforms let users sign up if they declared they were under 16. But just one, Australia-based live-streaming platform Kick, refused to let users create an account without proof of age, the follow-up study found.

A Meta spokesperson said Hammond’s shadow trial appeared inconsistent with the regulator’s guidance of escalating “to ‌formal age ⁠verification when behavioural indicators suggest they may be underage, or when an account is reported”.