Platform compliance risk rises

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner published its first Social Media Minimum Age compliance update on March 31, 2026, saying the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) obligation took effect on December 10, 2025 and that the regulator issued 23 legally enforceable information‑gathering notices across 10 platforms. (medianama.com) eSafety reported about 4.7 million age‑restricted accounts had been removed or restricted by mid‑December 2025 and that more than 300,000 additional accounts were prevented from accessing platforms by early March, a combined figure the regulator presented as roughly 5 million affected accounts. (mediaweek.com.au) The compliance update says a “substantial proportion” of children under 16 still retain accounts, create new accounts, or pass platforms’ age‑assurance systems, and eSafety is focusing investigations on five major platforms with a plan to decide on enforcement action by mid‑2026. (medianama.com) The report flags specific weak practices including ineffective reporting pathways for underage accounts, users being able to re‑attempt age checks until they pass, and platforms relying too heavily on self‑declaration rather than “successive validation” age‑assurance approaches. (medianama.com) Platform disclosures to regulators show differing tallies: Meta told authorities it had identified roughly 450,000 under‑16 accounts across Facebook and Instagram, TikTok estimated about 200,000 such accounts in Australia, and Snap said it had locked approximately 450,000 accounts while continuing daily enforcement. (yahoo.com) (abc.net.au) The Albanese government and eSafety warned companies of civil penalties of up to A$49.5 million for systemic failures, and the action follows broader regulatory momentum — the European Commission preliminarily found Meta and TikTok in breach of Digital Services Act transparency obligations in 2025, underscoring multi‑jurisdictional scrutiny. (pm.gov.au) (digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu)