What’s changed in Australia?
New regulations in Australia require social platforms to take stronger action on accounts owned by users under 16. To comply, platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook have started:
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Removing accounts that don’t meet age requirements
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Restricting visibility or interaction from under-16 accounts
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Deleting historical activity (like comments) from affected accounts
These changes are applied by the platforms themselves—not by Sked, and came into effect on the 10th December 2025.
How this affects your metrics
Follower or fan drops
If part of your Australian audience included users under 16, those accounts may have been removed or restricted. When that happens, platforms automatically deduct them from your follower or fan counts.
This can look like:
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Sudden drops in followers or page fans
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Declines that happen overnight or across a few days
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No clear link to recent content performance
This isn’t a reflection of your content or strategy—it’s age-based account enforcement at the platform level.
Negative comment totals on TikTok
TikTok handles removed under-16 accounts by deleting their past interactions, including comments.
When a large number of comments are removed at once, TikTok may temporarily report:
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Sharp drops in total comment counts
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Comment changes that appear as negative numbers
This is most commonly seen on Australian TikTok accounts during December and is caused by TikTok recalculating historical engagement after account removals.
Why this matters for reporting
If you’re reporting on Australian accounts in December, you might notice:
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Lower follower or engagement totals
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Sudden dips that don’t align with posting activity
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Metrics that don’t follow usual trends
When sharing reports with clients or stakeholders, it’s worth noting that these changes are driven by Australian regulatory enforcement, not campaign performance.
What you need to do (and what you don’t)
You don’t need to:
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Change your posting strategy
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Fix anything in Sked
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Reconnect or reauthenticate accounts
We recommend:
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Adding context to December reports for Australian accounts - Here's a quick primer you can share with clients or reporting lines to explain the changes. Feel free to cut and paste to share, or the help doc with the same contents.
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Avoiding direct month-over-month comparisons without explanation
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Monitoring trends once the enforcement period stabilizes
Still seeing something that doesn’t add up?
If metrics continue to behave unexpectedly after December—or if something looks clearly broken—reach out to our support team. We’re happy to help you confirm whether it’s platform behavior or something that needs investigating.
TL;DR
For Australian accounts, December drops in followers and unusual engagement numbers (including negative TikTok comments) are caused by under-16 account enforcement. It’s expected, platform-driven, and not a reflection of your content.