Under the new age restrictions: Early insights from Australian parents

The survey involved parents and carers of children aged 8 to 15 years. It was done to obtain insights into the initial experiences of account ownership and deactivation under the new age restrictions.

The research found:

• There was a reduction in the proportion of children having accounts on 10 age‑restricted platforms following the implementation of the social media age restrictions.
• Despite overall reductions in account ownership, a substantial proportion of children under 16 retained accounts on age‑restricted platforms.
• Platform‑led deactivation was the main reason children no longer had accounts on age‑restricted social media platforms.
• The most common reason children still had their social media accounts was that they had not yet been asked by the platform to confirm their age.
• While consistent trends were observed across platforms, important differences in experiences of account deactivation and retention are evident and should be examined at the platform-level.