Australia's social media ban backfires: under-16s usage climbs back to pre-ban levels
Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data
Despite Australia's world-first ban on social media for under-16s, new data from parental control app Qustodio shows that usage among 10-15 year olds is rising again, nearly returning to pre-ban levels for some platforms. TikTok usage among 13-15 year olds is only one percentage point below pre-ban figures, and among 10-12 year olds it's nearly identical. Experts suggest kids may be using VPNs or lying about their age, but also note that the restrictions simply may not be working. The ban, aimed at protecting children from online bullying and predatory algorithms, has shown little effect according to a peer-reviewed study.
They could be accessing these platforms with VPNs, or obfuscating their ages, but it could really be as simple as they're just accessing these apps because the restrictions aren't working.
- bko
Misleading title. Usage dropped after the ban and has risen slightly since the initial drop.
The article does very little besides report this. It speculates that it might be due to vpn or the ban not working. It doesn't even go into how the ban works or and basic journalistic follow up questions.
Does anyone have a better source or info why it's not effective
- halsafar
Who would have thought banning something would make it attractive to kids. Radical.
- respectattentio
Telegram CEO predicted this the moment countries started to announce that.
His idea, that I completely agree with, is:
Awareness > Control
- HelloUsername
Related: "Australia's social media ban has failed (reuters.com)" 02.aug.2026 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49141877 127 comments
- phoghed
The number of you who confidently commented something incorrect because you couldn’t be bothered to read the 13 sentence article is as unsurprising as it is disappointing.