I tried making new social media accounts as an under-16. Things are still messy

Some social media apps designated as age-restricted by Australia’s new laws appear to be struggling to vet new users, despite the effective ban on under-16s signing up for the platforms coming into effect on Wednesday.

Testing the apps’ ability to block underage users is complicated because each one employs its own range of age assurance measures, some of which are invisible to the user. This means that when a new user signs up for the first time, there is presumably a range of checks happening in the background to verify they’re over 16, regardless of when they say their birthday is.

On X — which reportedly plans to vet the age of users by implementing its Grok AI somehow — I was blocked from creating a new account with a birthdate in 2011, although there were no pop-ups or information indicating it was complying with Australian law, just a generic error message. However, if I changed the birthdate to 1988, I was allowed in right away, with no facial verification or obvious age-assurance measures.

Instagram would not let me create a new account for an under-16 user, showing error messages if I tried. On the app, I easily created a new account claiming I was born in 1997, but a long pause when accepting the terms and conditions indicates the system may have been running a background check and was satisfied I was over 16. When I tried to create an account claiming I was 16, it asked me to upload a photo of my ID.

On Reddit, I was able to create a new account claiming I was 16, and there were no questions asked.

TikTok blocked the creation of a new account with a birthdate indicating I was under 16, then subsequently blocked the creation of any new account, indicating my device or network address may have been blacklisted after the first attempt. Oddly, I got an identical block message when I tried to sign up to Snapchat, so I wasn’t able to get to any facial verification or ID check.

Even after some under-16s were blocked from YouTube, my eight-year-old was allowed in.

YouTube is an interesting case because it sent messages to existing under-16 users explaining they’ll be removed from the app. But this morning, I activated YouTube for my eight-year-old son’s account without any issue; as of 10am, it still has full access to the site. This may be because of the added complexity in how Google accounts work, with child accounts connected to and governed by parent accounts. Google said all viewers under 16 would be automatically signed out, but indicated its changes may take a few days to fully roll out.

I had never activated YouTube for my son’s account before today, but he has had a Google account for years, so it’s arguably an edge case. I gave permission for the account to access full YouTube, but it does have his real 2017 birthdate associated with it, and you can see in the screenshot above that it’s already suggesting videos to him based on his age.

Speaking on Today on Wednesday morning, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the rollout of age assurance measures was always going to be messy.

“There are going to be technology teething issues, and it takes a while to replicate through these major systems,” she said.

“We may see some cases, we may see some blatant non-compliance, but we’ve got plans for that. And you know, the action won’t be immediate.”

Of course, kids who are legitimately under 16 are getting a better glimpse at how the measures are working out. Online, some are confirming that their accounts are being systematically shut down, while others are gloating that they’ve been so far unaffected, or even that they were able to pass facial scanning and continue to pose as an over-16.

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