Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data

Deutsche Tageszeitung - Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data

Weather - Berlin 9°C

Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data

CULTURE 26.08.2026

Social media use on the rise among Australian under-16s after ban: data / Photo: © AFP/File

Australian under-16s are increasing their use of social media apps such as Instagram and Tiktok despite a world-leading ban, data provided by a parental control software company showed Wednesday.

Change text size:

Australia implemented legislation barring children from social media platforms in December, with the UK, France and others following suit.

Youngsters' use of social media fell across the board when the legal restrictions were first implemented, data from parental control app Qustodio showed.

But since then their social media activity has climbed -- even approaching pre-ban levels for some apps.

The use of apps TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat among 10-12 year olds and 13 to 15-year olds was on the rise, data from parental control app Qustodio showed.

In the case of video-sharing site TikTok, 25.9 percent of 13-15 year-olds are still using the app -- just over a percentage point lower than before the ban came into force.

And use among 10-12 year olds was just 0.06 percentage points below where it was before the ban.

"They could be accessing these platforms with VPNs, or obfuscating their ages," Yasmin London, Global Online Safety Expert for Qustodio, said.

"But it could really be as simple as they're just accessing these apps because the restrictions aren't working."

The data also showed children increasingly turning to messaging platform WhatsApp, which is not affected by the ban.

Qustodio said the data was gathered by analysing anonymised monthly social media app usage among Australian children and showed the percentages of kids that had used the app for more than five consecutive minutes at least once in a given month.

Australian officials have said the ban is designed to protect children from online bullying and "predatory algorithms".

A team of Australia-based researchers in a peer-reviewed study published in June found little evidence to suggest teenagers have turned away from social media as a consequence, however.

New Zealand's government also this week said it would introduce legislation that could see firms like Meta fined up to 10 percent of their global revenue if they fail to comply.

(O.Zhukova--DTZ)

Featured

UBC professor describes police call after Galloway remark as act of care

VANCOUVER — A University of British Columbia professor has testified about a colleague’s decision to call police to visit Steven Galloway after he was accused of sexual assault, describing it as an “act of care” toward the author, who had spoken of killing himself. Galloway, who is suing his accuser and others in a defamation trial centred on the unproven allegations, has described his subsequent committal to a hospital in the United States as “terrifying.

The Cat in the Hat expands its stakes to cosmic scale in animated reboot

The folks behind the new animated “The Cat in the Hat” are pretty confident they’ve got the cat in the bag. It hasn’t even opened yet and there are onscreen references to possible movie spinoffs for the jet-powered magical couch and The Things.

Lettermen co-founder Tony Butala dies at 87

NEW YORK (AP) — Tony Butala, co-founder of the Grammy-nominated trio The Lettermen, whose lush vocal harmonies made them one of the most popular vocal groups of the 1960s, died Sunday. He was 87.

Carmen de Burgos: The Life and Legacy of Spain's Pioneer for Women's Rights

Carmen de Burgos, a prominent Spanish writer and journalist of the Generation of '98, dedicated her career to advocating for women's autonomy and civil rights. Known by the pseudonym Colombine, she broke barriers as Spain's first female daily newspaper columnist and became a leading voice for gender equality before her death in 1932.

Change text size: