More than eight in 10 Australian teens were still using social media three months after the government’s landmark ban on the platforms for under-16s took effect because tech firms failed to implement effective age checks, the country’s internet regulator has found. Source: ABC News.
In a study published on Friday, eSafety also found most children aged between 10 and 15 were using social media just as frequently in March as they had before the ban came into force on December 10, while parental awareness of their habits decreased.
Children continued to use social media even as account ownership declined from 52 per cent to 42 per cent, with “statistically significant” reductions across YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok in particular, the report said.
“Most under-16s who had social media accounts before commencement were able to either retain them or create new ones at the three-month mark, with social media platforms’ failure to implement effective age assurance measures cited as the main reason,” eSafety said in a statement.
Australia introduced the world-first ban because of concerns about the impact of social media on the mental and physical health of children and young people.
Its implementation is being closely watched by many nations that have since sought to introduce their own curbs.
Before the ban, nearly 86 per cent of children surveyed reported using at least one age-restricted platform.
Three months later, that figure remained above 81 per cent, the report said.
About 58 per cent of teenagers reported using social media daily or more often, barely down from about 60 per cent before the ban, it found.
The report showed minimal change in “sports and physical activity, arts and music, spending time with friends and family, and attendance at community events”.
Around half of the children who retained their accounts said platforms had not checked their age; the most common reason they were able to stay on the services.
Others said their accounts listed them as aged 16 or older or that age-checking systems had incorrectly determined they were older.
The report, prepared by a global advisory panel of university researchers, compared data collected from more than 4000 children and families before the ban started and three months later.
It is the first report to be released as part of a two-year study to evaluate the outcomes of the world-first ban.
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(Reuters via ABC News)
