When Australia banned social media access for under-16-year-olds late last year, it was a world-leading move.
The new laws were a response to growing concerns about the negative mental health impacts of the online world on young minds.
But four months on, many parents remain frustrated that their children are still able to access platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok.
The calls come as the eSafety Commission announced last month it would move from a compliance monitoring position, to one of enforcement.
Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube are being investigated for “potential noncompliance” with the social media ban for under 16s. (ABC News)
Parent Felicity Williams said she has done everything in her power to uphold the ban for her child, but has found it “impossible” due to a lack of regulatory support.
“In reality, nothing is happening on the ground. It’s still being left to parents to enforce.“
Despite the strictest parental controls, Ms Williams’ 14-year-old has been able to download the messaging app Snapchat.
“I believe she clicked ‘allow’ when she’s been face-timing her grandparents,” she said.
Ms Williams deleted the app, blocked access to it on her home internet and reported the breach to Snapchat.
Felicity Williams has written to Snapchat to remind them of their legal responsibility to keep under 16s off its platform. (Supplied: Felicity Williams)
The social media company said it would investigate, but would not inform Ms Williams of the outcome, “to protect the privacy of the account holder”.
Despite her actions, her daughter again gained access to the platform after re-downloading the app through iCloud, where she didn’t need parental permission.
Ms Williams emailed Snapchat again.
“I have informed you that an underage child is using your app,” she wrote.
“You are aware of it and have done nothing to prevent it, except tell me to use parent controls.
“Under Australian legislation, Snapchat has legal responsibilities to stamp this out,” she told the company.
Ban ‘ineffective’
Ms Williams did not stop there.
She had a lengthy phone call with Apple, but was unable to have the app removed from her daughter’s iCloud.
She remains worried about the addictive nature of social media and the risk of online bullying and feels frustrated that in the App Store, Snapchat remains listed for 13-plus age groups.
“It kind of feels like it’s a movie that’s been incorrectly rated,” she said.
Her experience led to her to write to the federal Communications Minister, Anika Wells, her local member of parliament, Matt Thistlethwaite, and the eSafety commissioner.
Ms Williams said the responses she received have been unsatisfactory.
She says she feels “very frustrated and very let down” and describes the ban as “ineffective” and “extremely difficult to police”.
Tech companies ‘taking the mickey’
Greg Attwells campaigned for Australia’s social media law changes through his for-profit company 36 Months.
He sympathises with parents who hoped the law change would keep their kids off social media.
“It sucks,” he said.
“It does feel like the platforms haven’t complied fully with the new laws and are taking the mickey”.
Greg Attwells petitioned the federal government to introduce the age-restricting laws. (ABC News)
At the same time, Mr Attwells said he had also heard from families where the new rules have worked.
“We’ve been getting reports from parents saying, ‘I’m coming home from work and six kids are out in the backyard, playing backyard cricket under sprinklers … [with] phones inside for hours kind of not being looked at or touched’,” he said.
With other countries around the world working to establish a similar ban, Mr Attwells believes tech companies are “incentivised to make the rollout [in Australia] as wobbly as possible”.
On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a bill, inspired by Australia’s social media ban, would go before the parliament.
Move to ‘enforcement stance’
A recent report on the issue by the eSafety Commission concluded that platform pathways for parents to report underage users were ineffective and inaccessible.
It also raised compliance concerns.
In a blog post, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the body would be “moving from a compliance monitoring to an enforcement stance”.
“We will not hesitate to take enforcement action where appropriate,” a spokesperson said.
The eSafety Commission report found that while social media account ownership for 8—15-year-olds had dropped from 49.7 per cent to 31.3 per cent since the laws came into effect, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube would be under investigation for potentially failing to comply with the ban.
It identified a range of what it called poor practices that encouraged children and teens to access the platforms.
If found to be non-compliant, the platforms could face infringement notices and civil penalties.
The eSafety Commission’s website provides advice on the topic for parents.
Teen retains access despite ban
Parent Alexis Theodorou said since the ban, nothing had changed for her 14-year-old son. She feels the tech companies have not taken it seriously.
“He hasn’t been removed from any of the social media platforms that he uses,” she said.
“It seems to me a bit optimistic to think that all the social media companies would just go, ‘OK, we’ll just get rid of all the under-16s off social media’.
“I don’t think it was ever going to be that simple.“
Alexis Theodorou wants her son removed from social media platforms. (ABC News)
Ms Theodorou wishes the ban had come in years earlier, when her son was younger, “as I would have felt more supported in delaying his use of social media”.
“Once your child has a phone, unless you are tech savvy and on top of all the parental controls, it’s difficult to know everything they are doing.“
Younger users linked to higher depression rates
A recent study of young people in the United States looked at links between the age of smartphone acquisition and depression, obesity and insufficient sleep.
Lead researcher Ran Barzilay, a child and adolescent psychiatrist from the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania, said while the study did not look specifically at social media use, a child’s age at smartphone acquisition was a good place to start for information on phone use and its impact on young minds.
US-based academic Ran Barzilay looked at the link between phone use and its impact on young minds. (Supplied: Ran Barzilay)
Of the roughly 10,000 participants, 6,739 had a smartphone at age 12.
“We found that on average, kids with smartphones had more chances of meeting the criteria for depression, obesity and insufficient sleep at age 12,”
Associate Professor Barzilay said.
He said the link was stronger for kids who had received a smartphone earlier.
“For every year younger of smartphone acquisition, there [is] around a 10 per cent increase in the chance of the kid having obesity or insufficient sleep at age 12,” he said.
Associate Professor Barzilay said further studies would look at the effects of delaying smartphone use. (ABC News: Maren Preuss)
Children who did not have a smartphone at the age of 12, but acquired one by the age of 13, had a 50 per cent chance of experiencing mental health problems or reporting insufficient sleep compared with those who remained without a smartphone.
Associate Professor Barzilay said further studies were underway, particularly looking at the impacts of delaying smartphone use.
“I’m not saying [smartphones are] just bad, to the same extent I’m not saying it’s all good. It has both sides to it,” he said.
“But it’s very important to take the decision thoughtfully and acknowledge that this decision has implications for the kid’s health.”
Messy start to ban
Federal Minister for Communications Anika Wells said social media platforms were pushing back against the ban, and she expected the implementation of the new laws to be “untidy on the way through”.
“Big tech is using every play in the playbook,”
she said.
“They are worried that now more than a dozen countries have followed Australia and that these laws are rolling out in different places across the world.
“But we will keep fighting for you against the richest, most resourced companies in the world who want to use your children’s data for revenue.
“If eSafety finds these platforms have systemically failed to uphold their legal obligations, I expect the commissioner to throw the book at them.“
Anika Wells says she will support the findings of the eSafety Commissioner. (ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
A Snapchat spokesperson said the service remained committed to implementing reasonable steps under the legislation and supporting its underlying goal of improving online safety for young Australians.
“We have locked 450,000 accounts and continue to lock more every day.”
The spokesperson said the company had engaged constructively with the eSafety commissioner on “this new and untested law” and had taken strong steps to prevent underage users from having Snapchat accounts, “recognising that it will be iterative and will continue to strengthen our approach”.
Social media company Meta — the owner of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads — did not respond to a request for comment.
