Australia’s social media ban for children has had little effect, study finds

There is strong global interest in whether Australia's laws could provide a blueprint for how to rein in increasingly powerful tech giants. Photo by William Wesf/AFP via Getty Images/File

Article content

Australia’s social media ban for under 16s has had little impact on teenagers’ scrolling habits, researchers said Thursday in one of the first evaluations of the world-leading measures.

Article content

Australia in December banned under 16s from the likes of Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, in a crackdown designed to protect children from online bullying and “predatory algorithms”.

Article content

Article content

Article content

But there is little evidence to suggest teenagers have turned away from social media as a consequence, a team of Australia-based researchers found in a peer-reviewed study published by the British Medical Journal.

Article content

Article content

Underage users have been dodging the restrictions by using accounts registered to older people, setting up fake accounts, or by logging into private browsers.

Article content

“We found insufficient evidence to conclude that exposure to the Act had any early substantial effects on social media use among adolescents aged under 16,” the researchers wrote.

Article content

There is strong global interest in whether Australia’s laws could provide a blueprint for how to rein in increasingly powerful tech giants.

Article content

A growing mass of nations have either introduced or are mulling similar bans — including the United Kingdom, Indonesia, the UAE and New Zealand.

Article content

The researchers surveyed more than 400 young social media users immediately before the restrictions came into effect, and again three months after.

Article content

There was little change for users aged 12-13, a slight decrease for the 14-15 age group, and an increase in use for those aged 16 and older.

Article content

Article content

“The findings suggest that the period immediately after the introduction of the act was characterised by limited implementation, incomplete compliance, and substantial circumvention of social media restrictions.”

Article content

Article content

Tech companies face fines of up to Aus$49.5 million (US$34 million) if they fail to show meaningful efforts to weed out underage users.

Article content

Australia in March accused Facebook, TikTok and YouTube of failing to meet their obligations.

Article content

“Australia’s world-leading social media laws are not failing. But big tech is failing to obey the laws,” Communications Minister Anika Wells said at the time.

Article content

“None of this is impossible. None of this is even difficult for big tech, who are innovative billion-dollar companies.”

Article content

The nation’s eSafety Commission separately flagged “significant concerns” about Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.

Article content

A growing body of research suggests too much time online is taking a toll on teen well-being, and Australia’s ban has been hailed as a godsend for parents sick of seeing children glued to their phones.

Article content

Although platforms have pledged to abide by the laws, they have warned the measures could instead push teenagers into dark, unregulated corners of the internet.