Sydney: More than 8 in 10 Australian teenagers continued using social media three months after the country’s landmark ban on platforms for children under 16 took effect, as technology companies failed to implement effective age verification measures, the national internet regulator said on July 31.
A report released by eSafety, Australia’s online safety regulator, found that most children aged between 10 and 15 were using social media just as frequently in March 2026 as they had before the ban came into force on December 10, 2025. The study also found that parental awareness of children’s online activity had declined during the period.
Although the proportion of children holding social media accounts fell to 42 per cent from 52 per cent, more than 81 per cent of surveyed children still reported using at least one age-restricted platform, compared with nearly 86 per cent before the ban.
The regulator said many children were able to continue accessing social media because platforms failed to introduce robust age assurance systems. Around half of teenagers who kept their accounts said they were never asked to verify their age, while others reported that their profiles already listed them as aged 16 or older or that automated age-checking systems incorrectly identified them as meeting the minimum age requirement.
Daily social media use also remained largely unchanged. About 58 per cent of teenagers surveyed said they used social media every day or more often, compared with roughly 60 per cent before the restrictions were introduced.
Australia became the first country in the world to introduce a nationwide ban preventing children under 16 from holding accounts on major social media platforms, citing concerns over the impact of excessive social media use on young people’s mental and physical health. The policy has attracted international attention as other governments consider introducing similar restrictions.
Following earlier findings published in March 2026, eSafety launched investigations into the compliance of five major platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, over concerns they had not taken sufficient steps to prevent underage users from creating or retaining accounts.
The Australian government announced in June 2026 that it would double the maximum penalties for companies found to be breaching the law and expand eSafety’s powers to require technology firms to provide evidence of the measures they have implemented to block under-16 users.
The latest report, prepared by an international panel of university researchers, analysed responses from more than 4,000 children and families before the ban and three months after it took effect. It is the first publication from a two-year study evaluating the effectiveness of Australia’s world-first social media age restriction law.
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