A major study has found Australia’s under-16 social media ban has had little impact on teenage usage, with most young people continuing to access platforms despite the restrictions.
Australia’s landmark ban on social media for under-16s has made little difference to teenage usage, according to a major new study published in The BMJ.
Researchers from the University of Newcastle found that around 85 per cent of children under the age of 16 continue to use social media despite legislation introduced last December to prevent them from accessing the platforms.
The findings suggest the world’s first nationwide social media ban has so far had only a limited impact on young people’s online behaviour.
Daily social media use remained unchanged among children aged 12 to 13, while usage among 14 to 15-year-olds fell from 78 per cent to 69 per cent. Among those aged over 16, daily use increased by nine per cent.
Andy Burrows, chief executive of the suicide prevention charity the Molly Rose Foundation, said the research suggested the legislation had failed to significantly reduce screen time.
The findings showed Australia’s social media ban had not made “any meaningful difference to how long teenagers spend using high-risk sites”, he said.
Under the law, social media companies are required to take “reasonable steps” to prevent children under 16 from holding accounts.
However, researchers found between 54 and 68 per cent of underage users were still accessing platforms through their own accounts.
Around two-thirds also reported being asked by platforms to verify their age.
The study found there was little evidence that young people were widely bypassing the restrictions using virtual private networks (VPNs).
Instead, the most common methods of avoiding the ban involved creating new accounts with false dates of birth or using accounts belonging to other people.
Earlier surveys had already indicated the legislation was struggling to achieve its intended effect.
Three months after the restrictions came into force, seven in 10 parents told Australia’s eSafety Commissioner that their underage child still maintained a social media account.
The findings arrive as the UK prepares to introduce its own under-16 social media ban.
Technology minister Kanishka Narayan has said Britain intends to go further than Australia by requiring platforms to implement “highly effective age assurance” measures rather than simply taking “reasonable steps”.
Writing separately in The BMJ, Louise Holly, policy and research coordinator at the University of Geneva, described the findings as “worrying”.
However, she argued they should not be viewed as evidence that children had failed to comply.
Holly wrote: “The law was not designed to change the habits of children, but the practices of selected social media platforms.”
Major study shows Australia’s social media ban has made no ‘meaningful difference’ to teenagers
