Australia's Social Media Ban for Under-16s Has Had Limited Impact So Far
4 hours ago
- Australia's social media ban for under-16s has shown limited early impact, with only a modest drop in account ownership from 52.4% to 42.1% but 81.5% still accessing restricted services.
- Teens easily bypass restrictions due to platforms requiring only self-declaration of age, with 7.4% using VPNs and 11% receiving parental help.
- Usage of uncovered platforms like Pinterest (16.6% to 21.8%) and BeReal (0.2% to 2.2%) increased, while Reddit remained stable and Threads/Kick saw slight growth.
- The ban led to a decline in children feeling left out (43.3% to 36.3%) and increased use of messaging services (40.5% to 52.3%) and video games (26.4% to 29%).
- eSafety Commissioner notes reform will take time, as providers are not effectively preventing under-16s from having accounts.