Sounds like the ban didn’t work very well !

Here are some other comments from parents who contacted the ABC as part of an audience call-out looking at the immediate impacts of the social media ban:

“My son opened TikTok this morning and received this message: ‘The social media ban has come into effect. Your age is estimated to be 18 years old.’ He is 11.” — David, Vic

“My 13-year-old son has passed the age verification face scan by hiding his teeth and scrunching up his face. It guessed his age as 30+. In real life he passes for a 10-year-old.” — Matt, Qld

“My son is almost 16 and has been kicked off Snapchat already on the 9th December but my daughter who is 14 still hasn’t been asked to verify her age on the app. We know multiple children who are 13 who passed the Face ID scan.” — Melissa, WA

“My 13-year-old daughter still has access to all her social media accounts this morning, and she verified her age via facial scanning. I am hoping that they are still working their way through and she will be booted off soon. If not then it’s a fail for us.” — Alison, NSW

“I am under the age of 16 and have not been banned on any platform. Many of my friends in my grade are also under 16 and not one of them has been banned yet.” — Julius, Qld

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-10/social-media-ban-day-one-teen-access/106126706

Yep looks like many sites haven’t actually implemented the age verification at all.

https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/we-tried-to-break-australia-s-social-media-ban-it-wasn-t-hard-20251210-p5nmcx

Social media platforms are still allowing users who declare themselves to be under 16 to sign up for new accounts, despite Australia’s world-first social media ban coming into effect today.

…

testing by The Australian Financial Review found Meta platforms Facebook, Instagram and Threads, as well as Snapchat, TikTok and X were the only platforms to prohibit users signing up if they listed their age as under 16. As of 6am AEDT, the Financial Review created accounts on video streaming platforms Kick and Twitch despite listing the user age as below 16. Several hours after establishing the account, Kick prompted the user to verify their age, but the app remains fully accessible at this stage without verification.

Likewise, online forum Reddit – which said it would comply with law but is preparing a potential legal challenge to the new regulations – did not require users to input their age at all while setting up an account, with adult “18+ content” on the platform filtered using a toggle in the app’s settings without any age verification. On YouTube, owned by Google parent Alphabet, users can set up an account while listing their age as under 16 and comment and watch videos. Viewers can watch YouTube and TikTok without logging on, but even the under-16 account created by the Financial Review was able to easily access explicit content. While Facebook, Instagram and Threads, Snapchat, TikTok and X prevented people under 16 from signing up, all 10 social platforms let the Financial Review create accounts that listed an age of 18 without any further age verification.

Please explain the antitrust part?

Have any adults had trouble verifying on any platforms ?

Which platforms have prompted you to verify? None have asked me yet.

I have never gotten that popup before, but I haven’t been on here for long

I have seen incompetent people hired and given more respect than someone who has done the job well for decades. Normally the excuse is “qualifications aren’t everything - a good team fit is important!”

Morons flourish in the Australian workplace - just as long as they suck up to the boss enough!