Australia’s Online Regulator Calls on Tech Giants to Reveal Child User Data

Australia’s online regulator has asked social media companies to disclose the number of children using their platforms, and how they are enforcing age limits.
Eight companies have 30 days to respond to eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, who will publish the findings.
The request has gone out to Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram, the Google-owned YouTube, the Chinese-backed TikTok, Snap, Reddit, Discord, and Twitch.
X, owned by Elon Musk, was not on the list of platforms contacted by Inman Grant.
She said introducing some form of age limit for social media could be on the cards.
“Imposing age limits is on the table but we also need better information to understand what will be effective, what the unintended consequences could be and we must absolutely support children in building their digital resilience and critical reasoning skills.”
Inman Grant said a really important conversation was taking place about the potential “damaging effects” social media might be having on children.
“And our research shows that almost two-thirds of 14 to 17 year-olds have viewed potentially harmful content in the past year including drug use, self-harm, and violent images, but we also know that teens get many benefits from social media.”
“eSafety research also shows that almost a quarter of 8 to 10 year olds said they used social media weekly or more often, while close to half of 11-to-13 year olds said they used social media at the same rate,” she said.
“Secondly is we’ve approved and funded the trial of age verification technology to make sure that whatever it is that we do works. And we call out consistently, social media comes with a social responsibility.”
He appointed former Chief Justice of the High Court Robert French to examine the legal, regulatory, and technological pathways for the ban.
“Like most parents, I am concerned about the impact social media is having on children in our community,” Malinauskas said.