A 30-year-old mother of three has been blocked from using her social media accounts in the wake of a ban aimed at reducing online harm to children.
Australia’s world-first social media ban for under-16s came into effect on Wednesday morning, and stories have surfaced of children bypassing the laws by sucking their cheeks in, screwing up their faces, using a family members’ image, or using a VPN to place their locations outside Australia.
Kiera Cronk, a dance teacher from Hobart, said there had been no problem with her small business accounts until about 9pm on the first day of the ban.
Kiera Cronk says her paid ads have not been paused and she is unable to respond to enquiries. (Pexels: Tracy Le Blanc)
“It was Instagram that went first,” Ms Cronk said.
“My personal one went and then everything else just started going as well.”
Ms Cronk has personal and business Facebook and Instagram accounts, all of which had shut down by Wednesday night.
“I got a message saying I was under the age of 16 and my account was disabled and that I could verify my age.”
She uploaded various documents, but they were rejected.
The 30-year-old was advised to engage a lawyer to provide a letter verifying her age. (Supplied: Kiera Cronk)
“I uploaded three times. I tried my driver’s licence, a bank card and my passport.”
Ms Cronk said her TikTok account had so far been unaffected.
Ms Cronk said she had not been offered an explanation, but believed it was because her personal accounts contained photos of her children, and her business pages had photos and videos of her dance students.
Ad payments continue on blocked accounts
Ms Cronk said she had transferred much of her business to a different platform ahead of the social media ban, but continued using paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram due to its success.
“I think the most dangerous thing for me wasn’t losing my social media accounts, it was losing the Meta business login,” she said.What apps are banned in Australia?
She said she was unable to stop the ads, which she said amounted to about $250 a week, due to the access restriction.
Ms Cronk said she was also worried about being unable to respond to enquiries the ads attracted.
“Now these ads can keep running but I can’t log in to stop them from running,” she said.
Ms Cronk said she had been advised to engage a lawyer to verify her identity.
“I have reached out to as many avenues as I can but the only thing I have been told to do is actually go to a lawyer … to pay a lawyer which is not great when you’re a mum of three kids and a small business owner,” she said.
“No-one can afford that.”
Ms Cronk said federal MP for Franklin Julie Collins had been assisting her.
Ms Collins’ office and Meta have been contacted for comment.
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