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Teenagers are bypassing Australia’s social media age ban through fake accounts, borrowed logins and private browsers, according to new research from the University of Newcastle.

More than 85 per cent of Australian adolescents under 16 continued using the social media platforms targeted by the country’s world-first age ban during the first three months after it took effect, a peer-reviewed study published in the British Medical Journal has found.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Newcastle and published last Wednesday, assessed the initial impact of the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024 on 408 adolescents aged 12 to under 17. It found “insufficient evidence” that the law produced any substantive reduction in social media use among those it was designed to restrict.

“Despite the intent of the Social Media Minimum Age Act 2024 to delay access to social media platforms and reduce the potential for online harms, little evidence was found of immediate substantive reductions in reported social media use by adolescents under 16 years,” the authors wrote.

The Act, which came into force in December 2025, requires platforms including TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat to take “reasonable steps” to prevent under-16s from creating or maintaining accounts. Corporations that fail to comply face civil fines of up to A$49.5 million.

The Australian eSafety Commissioner’s own compliance update, cited in the study, found that as many as seven in ten children retained social media accounts three months after the law took effect.

Age Checks and Workarounds

Among under-16 participants who reported using restricted platforms at three-month follow-up, only 39 per cent or fewer reported encountering any age verification measure across those platforms. The most common method platforms deployed was self-declared age — where users simply type in a birth date — reported by 24 to 39 per cent of participants. Uploading a “selfie” was required by some platforms, reported by 13 to 27 per cent.

Where platforms did deploy age checks, teenagers found ways around them. Among under-16 participants, 9 to 29 per cent reported accessing restricted platforms using someone else’s account. Between 15 and 19 per cent created fake accounts with false age details. A further 6 to 11 per cent accessed platforms via private browsers.

The researchers noted that adolescents “may be highly motivated to circumvent age-based restrictions” given that social media serves core social functions such as peer interaction and identity formation, and that platforms are designed to reinforce habitual use.

The age verification methods now being used by platforms — including selfie uploads and requests for photo identification — have raised concerns among digital rights advocates about the collection and storage of biometric data from minors. Critics of the legislation who have previously argued for its repeal warned before implementation that age-gating would require surveillance infrastructure at odds with children’s privacy.

Longer-Term Assessment Needed

The researchers said that more data was needed before fully assessing the ban’s effectiveness. “The full impacts of the Act may not be evident for a decade,” they wrote, adding that any potential benefits would be more likely among younger children not yet heavily exposed to social media than among current adolescents for whom use is already established.

The study’s authors called for interventions “that tackle a broader range of drivers of harmful social media use” in ways that align with the social and digital realities of young people.

The study’s descriptive findings also suggested some adolescents shifted their online activity rather than reducing it. More participants reported spending increased time on messaging apps such as WhatsApp after the Act took effect than reported spending less time on them. The authors said longer-term research was needed to assess whether the legislation was displacing online activity rather than reducing it.

The eSafety Commissioner plans to continue investigating platforms’ adherence to the Act. A 12-month follow-up study of the same cohort is planned for December 2026.

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