Shafaqna English– Australia’s national internet regulator has determined that the government’s much-publicized ban on social media access for users under 16 proved largely ineffective in its first three months of enforcement.
The watchdog attributed the continued high usage—with more than four out of every five teenagers still logged on—directly to the tech industry’s inability to introduce robust age-checking systems that would reliably block younger users.
The eSafety office’s Friday(31 Jul 2026) report also contained another concerning finding: children aged 10 to 15 were using social media just as often in March as they did before the ban took effect on December 10.
Moreover, the study highlighted a decline in parental awareness regarding how frequently and in what ways their children were engaging with these platforms, suggesting that the ban may have created a false sense of security among families.