Experts warn social media ban could push teens to dark web

Seven in ten parents in Australia whose children already had social media accounts said their teens were still accessing age-restricted platforms after the country's under-16 ban took effect according to the eSafety Commission, the government body tasked with enforcing the law.

Cybersecurity and child wellbeing experts, speaking to Metro, largely say no, at least not on its own.

In an interview with Metro, Pieter Arntz, a security intelligence analyst for Malwarebytes, expressed his concern that teenagers would resort to the dark web if blocked from accessing social media platforms. 

The dark web, accessible using special browsers such as Tor, keeps the user anonymous as far as their identity and location go. It consists of sites used for privacy, criminal activities, or illegal transactions.

According to London's Bayes Business School marketing lecturer Dr Yusuf Oc , however, the worry is "real but overstated". It takes effort to access the dark web, Oc explained, and few teenagers will make that effort, according to his views. 

He suggested the more probable alternatives for teenagers include privacy apps such as Telegram and unmoderated websites.

As the first country to introduce an under-16 social media ban, Australia now looks likely to have developed many loopholes within the framework. 

According to Metro, teens have been able to bypass the age-verification process either by adding wrinkles to their selfies, or providing their parent's ID, or simply creating new accounts with different dates of birth.

According to Smoothwall's managing director Tim Levy's parent company, Qoria, "Young people do not simply disengage from social media or the wider digital ecosystem when restrictions are put in place."

This means that other countries that intend to adopt similar laws such as the UK will need to learn from Australia's experiences.