The social media checks implemented in Australia after the country banned their use for teens under 16 have shown little evidence of being effective, according to a study by the University of Newcastle. Published in the British Medical Journal, the study surveyed participants between 12 and 17 years old before and three months after the law was introduced. It specifically looked at the participants’ use of TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.
Based on the information they gathered, more than 85 percent of teens under 16 continued using those social media apps, despite two-thirds of them reporting that they had encountered age checks. Approximately 54 to 68 percent of responders under 16 just kept on using their accounts. How, you ask? Well, the most common age check the Australian teens encountered was to self-declare their age, a method criticized by authorities in the country, as well as in other countries considering implementing the same law, due to its limited effectiveness. Among the responders, 24 to 39 percent encountered self-declared age verification, while 13 to 27 percent got through checks by uploading a selfie.
That said, the study also showed that affected teenagers found other ways to keep using social medial. Around 15 to 19 percent of the responders said they used fake accounts to access the platforms, while 9 to 29 percent reported going on social media using someone else’s account. Approximately 11 percent of the teens said they used private browsers to get around the restrictions. There were very few teens who reported using a VPN.
Overall, the study found that social media use remained the same among the 12 to 13 year olds after the law took effect. It declined among the 14 to 15 year olds, but it grew among the responders aged over 16.
While the researchers admit that it’s early days and the sample size was small and relied on self-reporting, an accompanying editorial of the study stresses that the results are early signals worth tracking.
“What these figures collectively describe is a partially implemented policy, one in which the mechanism intended to restrict access was not reliably activated,” said Dr. Amrit Kaur Purba, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Public Health and Policy at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “Australia’s experience shows that legislating a restriction is not the same as enforcing one: when age assurance relied on self-declared age, most adolescents continued to access restricted platforms. Countries now adopting similar measures – including the UK, which has committed to comparable restrictions and has tasked its regulator with defining effective age assurance before implementation – will need those mechanisms in place from the outset, rather than retrofitted once circumvention is already widespread. As governments across Europe, North America, and elsewhere consider similar approaches, Australia’s experience suggests that implementation may matter as much as legislation, and that lesson may prove as consequential as any headline result.”
