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Meta, Tiktok and Google under investigation for allegedly disobeying Australia’s social media ban

The Guardian · · 879 words · By Josh Butler
open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/mar/31/meta-tiktok-snapchat-goog…

fact_checkFact-Check Results

13 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

help Insufficient Evidence 6
verified Verified By Reference 3
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“The Australian government has accused big tech firms like Meta, TikTok and Google of disobeying the landmark ban on under-16s using social media”
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“A survey of 900 Australian parents found around a third (31%) said their children still had one or more social media accounts after the ban”
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Australian(s) may refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultura…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australians
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of 7,688…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia
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“Of the total number of under 16s who had accounts on Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok before the ban, 70% had maintained access”
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 is an Australian act of parliament that prohibits minors under the age of 16 from holding an account on certain social media platforms. …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Safety_Amendment_(Socia…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Multiple countries have passed laws to require age verification for social media services as an attempt to address certain harms on social media. The passage of such laws began primarily after Austral…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_age_verification_…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — TikTok, known in mainland China, Macau, and Hong Kong as Douyin (Chinese: 抖音; pinyin: Dǒuyīn; lit. 'Shaking Sound'), is a social media and short-form online video platform. It hosts user-submitted vid…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TikTok
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“Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube were all under investigation for potential non-compliance with the rules”
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cross reference SUPPORTS — The Australian internet regulator said it was investigating five of the biggest social media platforms for suspected breaches of its new under-16 ban
https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/australia-inves…
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“The eSafety Commission claimed the technology being used by the companies – such as facial age estimation – was not effective enough”
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“The social media minimum age laws specify that Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, Twitch, X, YouTube, Kick and Reddit are 'age-restricted platforms'”
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“The laws, which came into effect last December, carry a maximum A$49.5m penalty”
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Massacre of the Innocents is the subject of two paintings by Peter Paul Rubens depicting the episode of the biblical Massacre of the Innocents of Bethlehem, as related in the Gospel of Matthew (2:…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_the_Innocents_(Rub…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Lockheed C-5 Galaxy is a large military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed, and now maintained and upgraded by its successor, Lockheed Martin. It provides the United States Air Forc…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_C-5_Galaxy
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Madagascar is an American media franchise owned and produced by DreamWorks Animation. The voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and Jada Pinkett Smith are featured in the films. It began …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madagascar_(franchise)
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“The government said in January more than 4.7m social media accounts were deactivated, removed or restricted in the first days after the ban came into effect”
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“In its first compliance report, eSafety said 'despite overall reductions in account ownership, a substantial proportion of children under 16 retained accounts on age-restricted platforms'”
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“Of the parents who reported their child had an account on each platform prior to 10 December 2025, around 7 in 10 reported that their child still had an account”
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“The eSafety report stated 'the most common reason children still had their social media accounts was that they had not yet been asked by the platform to verify their age'”
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“eSafety claimed some platforms were encouraging children to attempt age assurance even when their declared age on the service was under 16”
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“eSafety said that facial age estimation had higher error rates for people close to the 16-year-old cut-off”
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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.