According to a report by parental control software company Qustodio, a significant proportion of users aged 13-15 in Australia still use social networking applications even though the new regulation has been in effect since December.
These are the first data reflecting online behavior of young people after the ban was applied nationwide.
The report shows that the number of teenagers using TikTok and Snapchat, two particularly popular platforms for Australian youth, has decreased compared to the time before the ban took effect.
However, the user rate in the 13-15 age group is still at over 20%. Specifically, the Snapchat usage rate decreased by 13.8 percentage points to 20.3% from November to February. Meanwhile, the TikTok usage rate decreased by 5.7 percentage points to 21.2%.
For YouTube, the decrease is less pronounced. The rate of teenagers in this age group using the platform only decreased by about 1 percentage point, down to 36.9%.
However, the data does not clarify whether these users logged into their accounts or only viewed content without needing an account.
According to current Australian regulations, all ages can watch YouTube without logging in.
Under Australia's ban, major social networking platforms must prevent users under 16 years old from accessing. Companies that do not comply may face fines of up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (approximately 35 million USD).
The affected platforms include Instagram, Facebook and Meta's Threads, along with YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat.
Representatives of the Australian Electronic Safety Commission (eSafety Commissioner) said that the agency has received a number of reports about people under 16 years old still using social networks. The regulator is actively working with platforms and age verification service providers to check the system and monitor cases that may violate regulations.
We are using many different sources of information to assess the level of compliance of the platforms," said the regulator's spokesman.
Meanwhile, Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells said that raising the minimum age for social media access is a cultural change, requiring time to adapt. According to her, the effectiveness of the policy cannot be assessed in a short time after its promulgation.
Qustodio also noted that the use of social networks by Australian teenagers usually decreases in December and January every year due to the long summer vacation of students. However, the decrease in the recent period is greater than in previous years, showing that the ban has had a certain impact.
However, the report also pointed out that part of the decline during the summer vacation is beginning to recover as students return to school. This shows that completely controlling the activities of teenagers on social media is still a major challenge.
Notably, concerns about young people switching to less controlled platforms have not yet become a clear trend. However, the messaging application WhatsApp recorded a slight increase in the number of users in the 13-15 age group.
Experts believe that in the near future, the real effectiveness of the ban will depend heavily on age verification technology as well as the supervisory role of parents and schools.
