The government has hailed data showing over 4.7 million under-16 accounts had been deactivated, removed or restricted within days of social media restrictions coming into effect, with one minister calling it a "huge achievement".
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was "encouraging that social media companies are making meaningful effort to comply with laws and keep kids off their platforms".
"Change doesn't happen overnight. But these early signs show it's important we've acted to make this change," he said in a statement sent to media outlets on Thursday, which also contained the preliminary figures provided to the eSafety Commissioner.
Communications Minister Anika Wells said the number of under-16 social media accounts that had been deactivated after the laws took effect on 10 December was a "huge achievement".
"We've said from the beginning that we weren't expecting perfection straight away – but early figures are showing this law is making a real, meaningful difference," she said in the statement.
"We know there's more work to do and the eSafety Commissioner is looking closely at this data to determine what it shows in terms of individual platforms' compliance."
'We'll need more data'
University of Sydney researcher Timothy Koskie told SBS News that 4.7 million was an "extraordinarily high number" but cautioned that "some of those accounts are going to be multiple platforms for individuals".
He said that, given the number of platforms included in the ban, and the number of "particularly socially media savvy kids", it was impossible to tell how many under-16s had actually stopped using social media.
"We can see that it's shutting down accounts and that was one of the slated things that they were going to do," said Koskie, who is a post-doctoral associate at the university's School of Media and Communications.
"As far as the top line item of protecting youth from the risks of social media, it might be a little bit of a bridge to say that shutting down the accounts means protecting the youth, because we don't necessarily know, for instance, that the accounts haven't been opened under other names or that protections haven't been bypassed through parents," he said.
"We'll need more data in order to know how that's rolling out."
Digital Rights Watch chair Lizzie O'Shea echoed those concerns, saying the "number of accounts deleted is not the measure of the success or failure of the ban".
"This is measured by its effect on young people's wellbeing. By that yardstick, the ban continues to fail. Teens are flocking to mental health crisis services as they come to terms with being cut off from their support networks," she told SBS News.
"The social media ban has not made life better for Australian teens. For many of them, particularly the most vulnerable, it has caused grave harm."
Digital Rights Watch opposed the introduction of the social media age limit, calling instead for more regulation of social media companies.
The government said the eSafety Commissioner's office would continue to closely monitor social media platforms to ensure they were complying with their obligations.
According to Thursday's statement, the eSafety website has recorded more than one million visits since the launch of the social media age limit's education campaign, which the government said showed that Australians were engaging with the ban and seeking clear, reliable information about the changes.
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