Twitch, Roblox, Steam, Lego Play, X and Reddit are among the companies eSafety has approached about whether the under 16s social media ban applies to them from December.
Companies approached by the eSafety commissioner this month about the requirement to prevent under 16s from holding social media accounts from 10 December have conducted a self-assessment that the commissioner will use to decide if they need to comply with the ban.
eSafety will not be formally declaring which service meets the criteria but companies that eSafety believes meet the criteria will be expected to comply.
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The eSafety commissioner’s office initially declined to release the list of companies contacted earlier this month but on Wednesday named the companies it has asked to assess if they need to comply.
The full list of companies initially approached by eSafety included:
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Meta – Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp
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Snap
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Tiktok
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YouTube
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X
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Roblox
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Pinterest
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Discord
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Lego Play
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Reddit
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Kick
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GitHub
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HubApp
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Match
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Steam
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Twitch
Gaming platforms such as Roblox, Lego Play and Steam were unexpected additions to the list that was widely anticipated to include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X. Platforms that have the sole or primary purpose of enabling users to play online games with other users are exempt from the ban.
“Any platform eSafety believes to be age-restricted will be expected to comply and eSafety will make this clear to the relevant platforms in due course,” a spokesperson for the eSafety commissioner said.
“eSafety will also provide information to the public about platform self-assessments and its own view in the lead up to December 10.”
The spokesperson said Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube “meet many of the conditions the legislation uses to define an ‘age-restricted social media platform’”.
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has previously expressed concerns about Roblox’s communications features being used to groom children.
“We know that when it comes to platforms that are popular with children, they also become popular with adult predators seeking to prey on them,” Inman Grant said earlier this month. “Roblox is no exception and has become a popular target for paedophiles seeking to groom children.”
Earlier this month, Roblox committed to implementing age assurance by the end of this year, making accounts for users under 16 private by default and introducing tools to prevent adult users contacting under 16s without parental consent.
Direct chat will also be switched off by default until a user has gone through age estimation.
Match, the dating company behind apps including Tinder and Hinge, was also a surprise inclusion. Although the apps require people to be aged 18 years or over, it was expected age checks would be brought in through other industry codes to come into effect later this year, rather than through the social media ban law.
GitHub is a platform used by developers to share and create coding that is owned by Microsoft.
Meta announced earlier this week it would begin testing AI in Australia on teenagers on Instagram suspected of being under 18 but have their account listed as being over 18.
If an account is suspected of being under 18, it will be pushed into the teenager’s account settings, which will restrict the types of content the user sees.
