Children and social media
The 'Children and Social Media Survey', conducted in September 2024, revealed that 84% of children aged 8 to 12 had used at least one social media or messaging service since the beginning of the year. This was despite being under the age limit of 13+ (except for children using Family Link YouTube accounts, who are not breaching the age policy).
The research found:
- 40% of children who had used social media or messaging services had their own account on at least one of these services.
- Many children (80%) who said that they currently had a social media or messaging account(s) had help setting up their account(s) – with this help mostly coming from parents or carers.
- Only 13% of children who currently had an account had one or more of their accounts shut down by a social media or messaging service in 2024 for being under the age limit of 13+.
- Most children owned or had access to an internet-enabled device.
Behind the screen: Transparency report
In addition to asking children about their use of social media and messaging services, on 2 September 2024, eSafety requested information from the online industry. We asked how many Australian children are using some of the most popular social media services and what age assurance measures those services have in place to enforce their own age limits.
A series of questions were sent to Google’s YouTube, Meta platforms Facebook and Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Discord and Twitch, through expanded transparency powers under the Basic Online Safety Expectations Determination.
This transparency report summarises the responses from these eight social media services in relation to children’s social media access and the safeguards in place to assess the age of users. The report also draws on a subset of data from eSafety’s ‘Children and Social Media Survey’, exploring children’s use of these eight social media services.
Download the transparency report
Download the methodology
About the research
This research draws on data from eSafety’s ‘Children and Social Media Survey’. The survey, conducted in September 2024, explored the use of social media and messaging services by children (including teens) since the beginning of 2024.
The survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 8 to 15-year-olds living in Australia. A total of 1,504 children participated in the survey, with most being 8 to 12-year-olds (1,049) and the rest being 13 to 15-year-olds (455).