The Australian authorities has defended the ban after a report concluded most youngsters had discovered methods to get round it.
Printed On 1 Aug 2026
Greater than eight in 10 Australian youngsters are nonetheless utilizing social media, skirting the federal government’s three-month-old landmark ban on the platforms for under-16s as a result of tech corporations have didn’t implement efficient age checks, the nation’s web regulator has discovered.
In a examine printed on Friday, eSafety additionally discovered most kids aged between 10 and 15 had been utilizing social media simply as regularly in March as they’d earlier than the ban got here into pressure on December 10 final 12 months, whereas parental consciousness of their habits decreased.
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“Most under-16s who had social media accounts earlier than graduation had been capable of both retain them or create new ones on the three-month mark, with social media platforms’ failure to implement efficient age assurance measures cited as the primary purpose,” eSafety stated in a press release.
Australia launched the world-first ban due to issues in regards to the impact of social media on the psychological and bodily well being of youngsters and younger individuals. Its implementation is being intently watched by many countries which have since sought to introduce their very own curbs.
Earlier than the ban, almost 86 p.c of youngsters surveyed reported utilizing at the very least one age-restricted platform. Three months later, that determine remained above 81 p.c, the report stated.
About 58 p.c of youngsters reported utilizing social media day by day, barely down from roughly 60 p.c earlier than the ban, it discovered.
The report confirmed minimal change in “sports activities and bodily exercise, arts and music, spending time with family and friends, and attendance at neighborhood occasions”.
About half the youngsters who retained their accounts stated platforms had not checked their age, the most typical purpose they had been capable of keep on the providers. Others stated their accounts listed them as aged 16 or older or that age-checking programs had incorrectly decided they had been older.
Australia’s authorities mounted a defence on Saturday of its ban after Andrew Leigh, assistant minister for productiveness, competitors, charities and treasury, was confronted with the regulator’s findings.
He argued the ban had already reshaped the nationwide debate. The ban has been “an necessary recreation changer within the dialog amongst dad and mom”, Leigh stated in televised remarks.
“We’ve had hundreds of thousands of accounts shut down,” he stated.
“We by no means anticipated that this may have 100% compliance. We don’t get 100% compliance out of minimal ingesting age legal guidelines, but it surely’s nonetheless applicable that we now have that legislation on the books.”
