Over 80% of Australian children aged under 16 continue to use social media despite a national ban, according to a new study from the University of Newcastle. A new University of Newcastle study shows that over 80% of Australian children aged under 16 are still using social media despite a national ban, which was introduced in December 2025. It showed “insufficient evidence” that the law has had any significant early impact on children’s social media usage, the researchers said in their paper published in The BMJ.

This study was conducted on 408 children aged 12-17, before and three months after the restrictions were implemented. The vast majority of under-16s surveyed were still using social media platforms that are blocked, with 85% of these using their own social media accounts to access these services. .

The report found that the first few months after the legislation went into effect were “characterised by a lack of implementation, non-compliance and a massive effort by young users to circumvent the restrictions. That meant there was not enough evidence to prove the law had any significant, immediate effect on adolescents’ use of social media,” the researchers said.

Australian ministers have lambasted social media giants for “systemic breaches” of the laws. The government has opened investigations into five out of 10 platforms included in the ban after finding many instances where children had typed in their correct birth date and still managed to create accounts and/or maintain them. Financial sanctions up to $49.5 million (about £26 million) can be levied against companies that violate the regulations.

It has been found by the research that children might get round the restrictions. Two thirds of all the participants claimed that they were required to give some sort of proof of their age and the most common method of proof is self-declaration of age or submission of photos. Close to one fourth of people who admitted to using false identities to use such websites claimed that they used private browsing techniques to remain undetected.

Although the initial effects were minimal, the researchers said the long-term effects of the legislation may take years to reveal themselves. They also pointed out that such legislation typically needs regular investment to ensure its successful implementation, accountability and public awareness, so that behaviour changes can be noticed. Their findings offer early evidence that can contribute to the development of governments’ future protections for the safety of children online, the authors said.

The UK is implementing its own measures on social media for under-16s, inspired by Australia’s measures but with tougher age verification measures. The UK will demand platforms to implement highly effective age-assurance technologies, such as facial age estimation via AI, digital identity verification, passport and/or credit card checks, open banking verification, mobile phone age checks, and electronic email age estimation.

The UK is expected to place more stringent obligations on companies to verify users’ ages before allowing them onto the platforms, whereas in Australia, it is merely a requirement that platforms take “reasonable steps” to prevent under-16s using their services.

Earlier this year, the Molly Rose Foundation commissioned a survey that revealed that just under 60% of children aged 12-15 who formerly had an account on a restricted platform still had a minimum of one account. The foundation, which was set up after Molly Russell’s death in 2017 after seeing “hurtful” content online, has raised concerns that age restrictions alone will not solve the problem of “hurtful” content being pushed by recommendation systems.

Many child safety campaigners and bereaved families, however, have embraced tougher social media limits as a good first step towards limiting the negative impact that social media can have on children. It is believed the UK prohibition will apply to platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, but not to messaging apps like WhatsApp or Signal.