In the first month since the country’s historic ban came into effect, social media companies have restricted access to millions of accounts belonging to children. Platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok are required to identify and deactivate users under the age of 16.

Approximately 4.7 million users had their access revoked, according to Australian officials, who on Friday boasted about the measure, which was implemented in mid-December due to concerns about the impact of online environments on young people.

“Today, we can announce that this is working,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated during a news conference. “This is a source of Australian pride. This was world-leading legislation, and now it is being followed up globally.”

Under the law, 10 social media giants – Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat, Kick, Reddit, Threads, Twitch, and YouTube – must find and deactivate accounts of Australian users under 16. The companies face fines of up to $33 million if they don’t take “reasonable steps” to remove underage users.

“We defied everyone who said it couldn’t be done, some of the most powerful and wealthy companies in the world and their supporters,” said Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells. “Now Australian parents can be confident that their kids can regain their childhoods.”

According to Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, there are around 2.5 million Australians aged 8 to 15, with approximately 84% of 8 to 12-year-olds having at least one social media account. While the total number of accounts across platforms is unknown, Inman Grant said the number of deactivated or restricted accounts was encouraging.

“We’re stopping predatory social media companies from reaching our children,” she said at a news conference.

Critics of the new ban have contended that it will be hard to enforce, and Inman Grant admitted that there are still some active underage accounts.

“We don’t expect safety laws to eliminate every single violation. If we did, speed limits would have failed because people speed, and drinking limits would have failed because, believe it or not, some kids do get access to alcohol,” she said.

She also mentioned that based on data reviewed by her office, there was an increase in downloads of alternative apps, but not a surge in usage.

Social media platforms can verify age by either asking for copies of identification documents, using a third party to apply age estimation technology to an account holder’s face, or making deductions from existing data, such as how long an account has been active.

Meta, which owns [the relevant platforms], said earlier this week that it had removed nearly 550,000 accounts belonging to users it thought were under 16 just one day after the ban started.

While the law was popular among parents and child safety campaigners, online privacy advocates and groups representing teenagers mostly opposed it.

Other countries have considered similar [measures], and some American lawmakers have also indicated their interest in imposing social media restrictions in the U.S.

“I think we should look at what Australia is doing, for instance, making sure access to these social media platforms is not available to anyone under 16,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said last month.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., previously said that “protecting children is a path that should be pursued.”

“I won’t rule out some kind of [restriction] or use of those devices… Parents and grandparents need help; this has gotten out of control,” he said.

Digital’s Nora Moriarty, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.