Despite the world’s first ban, children under the age of 16 in Australia are once again increasingly active on social media. This is evidenced by data released on Wednesday, August 26, by a company that develops parental‑control applications.
Australia introduced a law in December that prohibits children under 16 from using these platforms. Similar measures were later introduced or considered by other countries, including the United Kingdom and France.
Social media use is growing again
Initially, after the ban was introduced, the use of social media among young people fell, according to data from the parental‑control application Qustodio. Over time, however, children’s activity on these platforms rose again, and on some services it nearly returned to pre‑ban levels.
In particular, 25.9% of young people aged 13 to 15 continued to use TikTok. This is only one percentage point less than before the ban. Among children aged 10 to 12, TikTok use dropped by just 0.06 percentage points compared with the pre‑ban level.
“They may be accessing these platforms through VPNs or hiding their age. But it may also be that they are simply using these applications because the restrictions are not working,” said Yasmin London, a global online safety expert at Qustodio.
The data also show that children are increasingly using WhatsApp, which was not covered by the ban.
According to Qustodio, the information was obtained through anonymous analysis of monthly social‑media use by children.
Source: Folha de S.Paulo
