Snapchat blocks more than 400,000 Australian accounts but warns of significant gaps' in under-16s social media ban

"The accounts of more than 415,000 users in Australia identified as being under 16 were locked or disabled by Snapchat as part of its compliance with the under-16s social media ban. The company announced in a blog post on Monday that, as of the end of January, it had disabled or locked more than 415,000 Snapchat accounts in Australia belonging to users who either declared an age under 16 or the platform believes to be under 16 based on age detection technology."

"We continue to lock more accounts daily. Snapchat was one of 10 platforms required to ban people aged under 16 from accessing its services in December last year. In January, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, heralded the success of the ban in announcing that 4.7m accounts on these platforms had been disabled or removed in the first days of the ban."

"However, there have been a number of reports since the ban came into effect, with some reporting Snapchat's facial age estimation was easily bypassed by teenagers. The company said it continues to lock more accounts daily but said there are significant gaps in the implementation of the ban that could undermine it."

Snapchat disabled or locked more than 415,000 accounts in Australia identified as under 16 by self-declared age or age-detection technology, and continues to lock accounts daily. The platform was among 10 required to ban under-16s after new rules led to 4.7m accounts being disabled or removed across platforms in the first days. Snapchat warned of significant implementation gaps and technical limitations in age verification, noting facial age-estimation is only accurate within two to three years, allowing some under-16s to bypass protections and some over-16s to lose access. The company cautioned teenagers may migrate to less regulated messaging apps outside the ban.

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