Australia banned social media for under-16s on December 10, 2025, the first country in the world to do it. Three months later, the government's own internet regulator, eSafety, found more than 8 in 10 Australian teens were still using it.
What the study found
eSafety compared 4,000+ children and families before the ban and three months after:
More than 81% of teens were still on social media, down only slightly from 86% before the ban.
About 58% used it daily, barely changed from roughly 60% before.
Account ownership did drop, to 42% from 52%, with real declines on YouTube, Snapchat, and TikTok.
About half the kids who kept their accounts said the platform never checked their age.
Assistant Minister Andrew Leigh defended the law, calling it "a game changer in the conversation among parents" and citing "millions of accounts shut down." The government is doubling the maximum penalty for platforms that fail to enforce it, and eSafety is investigating five: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.
The part most coverage missed
The ban had an unintended effect: parental awareness of what kids do online went down. As accounts moved into messaging apps and games, Reddit use among kids rose from 6% to 9%, parents saw less, not more. eSafety warned this could reduce the chance of spotting online harm early.
That is the privacy-and-safety catch. The ban didn't get kids off social media. It pushed their activity into apps and games parents watch less, so online harm gets harder to spot, not easier.
How to actually keep your teen safer online
Whether or not there's a law where you live, these work on TikTok and every other platform:
Set the account to private. On TikTok: Settings → Privacy → Private account. Do the same on Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.
Turn on the platform's family tools. TikTok Family Pairing, Instagram Teen Accounts, and YouTube supervised accounts let you set screen time, restrict DMs, and filter content.
Lock down contact and reposting. Set DMs to friends-only or off, and disable duet, stitch, and downloads of their videos.
Turn off precise location. No platform needs your teen's exact location. Disable it in the phone's app-level settings, not just in-app.
Keep the conversation open, not just the controls. The study's real lesson is that awareness beats a ban. Ask what they use and who they talk to. The goal is fewer surprises, not zero screens.