Most Australian young people still on social media despite ban, study suggests 

By Aine Fox, Press Association Social Affairs Correspondent 

Eight in 10 Australian young people reported still accessing social media in the months after a ban for under-16s took effect, according to research. 

The findings from a small study of the initial impacts of the world-first ban suggested “insufficient evidence of any substantive early effects”, the University of Newcastle, Australia, study said. 

The UK is set to have a ban in place on certain social media for under-16s by spring, after an announcement by Sir Keir Starmer earlier this month. 

The Government of Gibraltar said it would likely follow suit but will await developments in the UK. 

UK Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has acknowledged the ban will not be a “complete silver bullet”, saying it is about providing clarity for parents and children and resetting expectations and social norms when it comes to young people’s use of social media. 

She has also insisted that the UK’s use of “highly effective age-verification measures” would make the ban stronger than the Australian system. 

The study, published by The BMJ, acknowledged the ban is still relatively new and suggested it could be a decade before the full impact of it is known. 

It said 408 children aged 12 to 17 were asked about their social media habits just before restrictions were introduced in December and then surveyed again three months later. 

Researchers found some 85% of participants aged under 16 reported still using social media platforms covered by the ban, mainly under their own accounts. 

Of these, two thirds reported encountering some form of age verification, most commonly self-declared age, or uploading of a picture. 

Almost a fifth reported using a fake account to get around restrictions, while around 10% said they used a private browser. 

The paper stated: “The findings suggest that the period immediately after introduction of the Act was characterised by limited implementation, incomplete compliance, and substantial circumvention of social media restrictions.” 

“In this context, overall, we found insufficient evidence to conclude that exposure to the Act had any early substantial effects on social media use among adolescents aged under 16 years.” 

Researchers said while there was “insufficient evidence of any substantive early effects” of the ban, the “potential benefits of the legislative change take time to manifest and often require investment in accountability and education mechanisms to encourage compliance and uptake”. 

They described their findings as giving “key early insights that can guide government refinement and future actions to promote health and wellbeing”. 

Chronicle staff added reporting to this article.