Among children aged 10 to 15, ownership of social media accounts declined only modestly (from 52% to 42% of prior users), with the sharpest drops on YouTube and TikTok, while overall usage remained steady.

In June, authorities moved to double the maximum penalties for firms that fail to uphold the ban and to bolster eSafety’s evidence-gathering powers, with investigations into five platforms ongoing.

Platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube have expressed compliance concerns, and enforcement is shifting from monitoring to active action and potential legal proceedings.

The report warns that a ban alone won’t mitigate risks; ongoing family dialogue and broader awareness are essential, with further reports planned into 2028 to gauge long-term effectiveness.

Australia’s under-16 social media ban took effect last December, and a three-month follow-up study shows more than 80% of teenagers are still online, largely due to weak or incomplete age checks by platforms.

Most youths who kept accounts reported that platforms did not verify ages, or listed them as 16 or older, and some age-check systems misclassified users.

The government frames the ban as a long-term cultural shift and is strengthening enforcement with higher penalties and broader powers for eSafety to gather information.

Observers say the ban is not a complete fix but also not a total failure, underscoring a need for tougher enforcement to close the gap.

Enforcement challenges are attributed to weak age assurance by the platforms rather than deliberate evasion by teens.

Regulatory steps include investigating non-compliance across major platforms and empowering authorities to compel evidence of enforcement and uplift penalties.

Australia’s approach is being watched as a potential model influencing EU, Vietnam, and other jurisdictions considering similar age-restriction policies.

While there have been improvements since the March age-update, concerns about platform compliance remain, and responses from several platforms were not immediately available.