Australia's pioneering legislation to ban social media access for individuals under 16 years old has led to the deactivation of approximately 4.7 million teen accounts within its initial month of enforcement. The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, which passed on November 29, 2024, officially came into effect on December 10, 2025. The country's internet regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, released the first official compliance data on January 15-16, 2026, confirming the substantial impact. Social media giants, including Meta (Facebook, Instagram, Threads), Google (YouTube), TikTok, Snapchat, and X (formerly Twitter), are now required to take reasonable steps to prevent minors under 16 from holding accounts or face significant penalties, with fines up to A$49.5 million (approximately US$33 million) for serious breaches. Meta, for instance, reported removing 550,000 underage accounts from its platforms. The reported figure of 4.7 million accounts is notably higher than pre-implementation estimates, equating to more than two accounts for every Australian aged 10 to 16. While the eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, described the initial rollout as smooth, she acknowledged that some underage accounts might still be active through workarounds, and full compliance would take time. The legislation is a world-first, and its implementation and effectiveness are being closely watched by governments globally, with countries like France, Malaysia, and Indonesia reportedly considering similar measures to protect young people from online harms. The law places the onus of age verification and enforcement squarely on the social media platforms themselves, rather than on children or their parents.