Australia Fails to Implement Indonesia's Rules, Reasons Revealed

Australia’s implementation of rules restricting social media access for children under 16, similar to Indonesia’s policy introduced via PP Tunas in March 2025 with enforcement from 28 March 2026, has been deemed ineffective. A body representing technology suppliers stated that the enforcement issues in Australia reflect the weak application of available tools for age checks by social media platforms. This comment came as regulators issued stronger enforcement warnings to some of the world’s largest technology companies regarding the ban on social media for users under 16 in Australia. “The problem is not with the capability, but with its application,” said Iain Corby, executive director of the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA), in a statement quoted from Reuters on Wednesday (22/4/2026). Early shortcomings indicate the need for stronger expectations and enforcement, rather than claiming that age assurance technology does not work, he added. The Australian Cyber Security Commissioner is investigating Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Google’s YouTube, TikTok, and Snap for alleged violations of the ban. These platforms face fines of up to A$49.5 million (Rp609 billion) for each violation. The government stated it is gathering evidence to support Federal Court action if compliance does not improve. Initial launches show that age assurance products can operate accurately on a large scale, but platforms fail to apply them consistently or at key points, such as account registration. TikTok and Snap declined to comment, while Meta and Google were not immediately available for comment. These findings refute social media companies’ claims about inadequate age checks, stating that ongoing underage access reflects how platforms use, or fail to use, available tools, rather than technical constraints. Regulatory data shows millions of suspected underage accounts have been deleted since the law was enacted. However, Australia’s eSafety regulator has also highlighted persistent gaps, such as failures to verify age during account creation, repeated age check attempts until users pass, and ongoing reliance on self-declared age. In its report, AVPA stated that independent testing and early direct implementation show that these weaknesses are largely due to platform behaviour, not technology deficiencies. The main risk to effectiveness is over-reliance on internal age inference models, which guess a person’s age based on online activity, and limited re-verification of existing accounts, it added.