Snapchat blocks more than 400,000 Australian accounts but warns of ‘significant gaps’ in under-16s social media ban

The Guardian - World NewsCenter-LeftEN 1 min read 100% complete by Josh Taylor Technology reporterFebruary 2, 2026 at 12:59 AM
Snapchat blocks more than 400,000 Australian accounts but warns of ‘significant gaps’ in under-16s social media ban

AI Summary

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Snapchat has blocked or disabled over 415,000 accounts in Australia belonging to users identified as under 16, in compliance with the country's social media ban for that age group. The company announced the action, taken by the end of January, in a blog post on Monday. The accounts were identified either through self-declaration of age or through Snapchat's age detection technology. Despite this action, Snapchat acknowledged "significant gaps" and "real technical limitations" in accurately and dependably verifying the age of its users. This suggests challenges remain in fully enforcing the under-16s social media ban.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Keywords

snapchat 90% social media ban 90% under 16s 80% age verification 80% australia 70% account suspension 70% age detection technology 60% compliance 50%

Sentiment Analysis

Neutral
Score: 0.05

Source Transparency

Source
The Guardian - World News
Political Lean
Center-Left (-0.40)
Far LeftCenterFar Right
Classification Confidence
85%
Geographic Perspective
Australia

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

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