Social Media Use on the Rise Among Australian Under-16s After Ban: Data
Qustodio said 26% of Australian 13- to 15-year-olds were still using TikTok last month, while WhatsApp use rose from 27% to 36%.
- On Wednesday, data from Barcelona-based Qustodio showed Australian under-16s are increasing social media use on TikTok and Instagram despite the government's eight-month-old ban.
- Australia implemented the legislation to protect Children from online bullying and "predatory algorithms," barring access to major platforms owned by Meta Platforms and ByteDance.
- Qustodio's research based on 19,000 Australian families found TikTok usage among 13-15-year-olds near pre-ban levels, while WhatsApp usage climbed to 36 per cent.
- Yasmin London, Global Online Safety Expert for Qustodio, said Children might be circumventing restrictions using VPNs or age obfuscation, with no platform fined yet.
- Governments worldwide monitor Australia's experience as a blueprint, with New Zealand announcing plans this week to introduce legislation that could fine companies up to 10 percent of global revenue.
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Factbox-From Australia to Europe, countries move to curb children’s social media access
GDANSK, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Australia in December became the world's first country to ban social media for children under 16, blocking them from platforms including TikTok, Alphabet's YouTube and Meta's Instagram and Facebook. Meta will pay up to $18 bi...
Australia's social media ban for kids is a flop
Australia's social media ban hasn't stopped a lot of kids from using social media.Elena Medoks/Getty ImagesAustralia banned kids under 16 from social media apps in December 2025.A new report shows that the ban hasn't been effective — plenty of kids are still on social media.Sneaky teens have found easy ways to evade the bans.Imagine for a moment that you're an Australian 14-year-old (if you are an Australian 14-year-old, well, thank you for read…
Young Australians under the age of 16 are increasingly using socialization applications, such as Instagram and TikTok, despite an unprecedented worldwide ban, according to data provided by a parent control software company on Wednesday, cited by France 24.
The use of social networks among children under 16 years of age in Australia has been revived after its ban in late 2025 on this population group, according to data from a parental control application broadcast on Wednesday.
A little more than six months after the Australian law was passed, the data reported on Wednesday, 26 August, by a parental control application show that the teens concerned managed to circumvent the regulations, and used at least as much the platforms as before.
Eight months after Australia’s ban, teen TikTok use is down one percentage point
Eight months into the world’s first under-16 social media ban, 26% of Australian children aged 13 to 15 are still using TikTok, one percentage point below where the figure sat before the law took effect. The data comes from the parental control software maker Qustodio, and it puts numbers to something already visible in the […] This story continues at The Next Web
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