Social media use among Australians under 16 is rising again, despite a nationwide ban on their use of these platforms. The trend was revealed in data published by Qustodio, a parental-control software company.
Australia enforced one of the world’s strictest social media regulations, banning under-16s from using social media platforms, starting last December. The United Kingdom, France and several other countries later took similar steps.
Social media use among Australian children and teenagers fell significantly immediately after the ban took effect. But that usage has since started climbing again gradually. For some apps, usage has come close to pre-ban levels.
According to Qustodio’s data, use of TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat is rising among children aged 10 to 12 and teenagers aged 13 to 15.
For TikTok, the video-sharing platform, in particular, 25.9 percent of 13-to-15-year-olds are still using the app — just over one percentage point below the pre-ban usage rate.
Among 10-to-12-year-olds, meanwhile, TikTok usage is only 0.06 percentage points below the pre-ban level.
Yasmin London, Qustodio’s global online safety expert, said children may be bypassing the ban using VPNs, or by concealing their age.
But she said the explanation could also be simpler — that children are using these apps again because the ban simply isn’t working effectively.
Qustodio’s data also shows that use of messaging apps not covered by the ban, such as WhatsApp, is also rising among children.
Qustodio said it analyzed anonymized monthly data on Australian children’s social media use. A child was counted as a user of a given app if they spent more than five continuous minutes on it at least once in a month.
Australian officials have said the ban’s main purpose is to protect children from online harassment (cyberbullying) and from “predatory algorithms” targeting children.
However, a peer-reviewed study by a group of Australia-based researchers published in June found very little evidence that the ban has driven teenagers away from social media.
Separately, New Zealand’s government said this week that it is moving to introduce new legislation. Under the proposed law, social media companies that fail to comply with the rules could face fines of up to 10 percent of their global revenue for major firms such as Meta.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report