70% of teens in Australia still access social media despite bans

As more nations consider teen social media bans in order to reduce the negative impacts of online interaction and exposure, Australia’s online safety regulator released its first major report into the performance of the region’s new social media restrictions, which ban children under the age of 16 from having an account on the major apps.

The report from Australia’s eSafety Commissioner provided insights into the response to the ban three months in. It also offered a look at what kind of impact there has been in terms of enforcement.

First, the report said that approximately 4.7 million social media accounts of children under the age of 16 have been removed, deactivated or restricted since the new laws were implemented in December. In addition, more than 310,000 children were prevented from accessing social media platforms.

Those are big numbers, considering the population of Australia is about 28 million, according to the country’s Centre for Population’s 2025 Population Statement.

However, the eSafety office also said “the 4.7 million figure reflects the number of age-restricted accounts removed or restricted, not the number of users who have lost access to one or more age-restricted social media platforms.”

In other words, while the platforms may have taken action on these accounts, that doesn’t mean that these users have been cut off entirely. Some underage users have presumably found workarounds to subvert the regulations, such as creating new accounts.

Indeed, the report said that, based on a survey of 898 parents and carers of children aged 8 to 15 years, 70% indicated that their child is still accessing and using social apps.

Which highlights significant flaws in both the process and its potential enforcement.

Among the parents surveyed, 66.8% whose child still had access to social media said the platforms had not yet asked the child to verify their age.

What’s more, the report also said that children aged under 16 continued to report harm to eSafety, and there “has not been a discernible drop in overall numbers.”

The numbers indicated that Australia’s approach has been unsuccessful thus far, despite the government previously touting the high numbers of teen accounts that had been impacted by the ban.  

The research showed that those top-line figures are misleading, and that young users have largely been savvy enough to avoid restrictions.

Which is what most experts suggested would happen, even as they advocated for improved digital literacy education instead of blanket bans. Because while advocates for restriction seemed to believe that bans will prompt kids to go back to riding bikes and kicking a ball in the park, the fact is that online interaction is now a critical element of their social agenda. Things simply aren’t going back to the pre-internet experience.

In response to the report, the eSafety Commissioner’s Officer said that it will put more focus on ensuring compliance among the platforms, with a view toward enacting further action for violations by the middle of the year.

Social platforms could also face fines for failing to meet the standards set out in the new regulations. However, the regulations also allow for some leeway in interpretation and enforcement, which could make legal action challenging.

In any event, the eSafety Commission said it plans to take action against poor practices as it continues to drive home the new rules.