![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2017-06-08T131939Z_1189275883_RC11B0FE7F20_RTRMADP_3_GULF-QATAR-JAZEERA-1714943623.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nPublished On 1 Aug 20261 Aug 2026<\/p>\n
More than eight in 10 Australian teenagers are still using social media, skirting the government\u2019s three-month-old landmark ban on the platforms for under-16s because \u200ctech firms have failed to implement effective age checks, the country\u2019s internet regulator has found.<\/p>\n
In a study published on Friday, eSafety also found most children aged between 10 and 15 were using social media just as frequently in March as they had before the ban came into force on December 10 last year, while parental awareness of their habits decreased.<\/p>\n
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\u201cMost under-16s who had social media accounts before commencement were able to either retain them or create new ones at the three-month \u2060mark, with social media platforms\u2019 failure to implement effective age assurance measures cited as the main reason,\u201d eSafety said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Australia introduced the world-first ban because of concerns about the effect of social media on the mental and physical health of children and young people. Its implementation is being closely watched by many nations that have since sought to introduce their own curbs.<\/p>\n
Before the ban, nearly 86 percent of children surveyed reported using at least one age-restricted platform. Three months later, that figure remained above 81 percent, the report said.<\/p>\n
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A message that reads \u2018Let them be kids\u2019 is projected onto the Sydney Harbour Bridge to mark a law banning social media for users under 16 in Australia in Sydney, Australia, December 10, 2025 [Hollie Adams\/Reuters]<\/p>\n
About 58 percent of teenagers reported using social media daily, barely down from roughly 60 percent before the ban, it found.<\/p>\n
The report showed minimal change in \u201csports and physical activity, arts and music, spending time with friends and family, and attendance at community events\u201d.<\/p>\n
About half the children who retained their accounts said platforms had not checked their age, the most common reason they were able to stay on the services. Others said their accounts listed them as aged 16 or older or \u200cthat age-checking \u2060systems had incorrectly determined they were older.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s government mounted a defence on Saturday of its ban after Andrew Leigh, assistant minister for productivity, competition, charities and treasury, was confronted with the regulator\u2019s findings.<\/p>\n
He argued the ban had already reshaped the national debate. The ban has been \u201can important game changer in the conversation among parents\u201d, Leigh said in televised remarks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had millions of accounts shut down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never expected that this would have 100 percent compliance. We don\u2019t get 100 percent compliance out of minimum drinking age laws, but it\u2019s still appropriate that we have that law on the books.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Australian government has defended the ban after a report concluded most teenagers had found ways to get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[980,22,23,21,74526,10235,152,106],"class_list":["post-62965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-asia-pacific","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-austrlia","tag-censorship","tag-internet","tag-news","tag-social-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}