Australia's teen social media ban fails, 85% still online

Six months after Australia became the first country to ban under-16s from social media platforms, a new study shows the groundbreaking law has had minimal impact on actual teen usage.

A study in the British Medical Journal showed that 85% of 12 to 15-year-old Australians continued to use Instagram, YouTube, and other sites three months after the ban. The study highlights the major enforcement loophole in the wake of promises by the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, to provide legal backing for the policy following inevitable court challenges.

How do teens bypass age verification despite bans?

Two ways were identified in which these 408 teenagers tried to bypass the ban. Two-thirds of underage users declared themselves older than 16 when signing up, while others provided selfies proving their age was above 16 years old, and the platforms took those at face value.

According to the BMJ paper, "Despite the intent of the ban to delay access to social media platforms and reduce the potential for online harms, little evidence was found of immediate substantive reductions in reported social media use by adolescents."

Once the ban came into effect in December 2025, it was said that the number of accounts that got closed amounted to millions. It did not take long for those positive effects to wear off as teenagers managed to find ways to get past the requirements.

Albanese indicated the government would stress-test the law to ensure it could withstand legal challenges, particularly from Reddit, which filed a High Court challenge still in preliminary hearings. "What we want to do is make sure that the laws are as strong as possible and that they will withstand any legal challenges which are made," Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

The eSafety Commission, Australia's internet regulator, is preparing legal action against multiple platforms. Violators face maximum fines of A$49.5 million ($34 million USD) for systemic non-compliance.