Ban in Place, But Platforms Still Accessible
Despite Australia implementing a ban on social media use for children under 16 in December, the majority of affected young people report being able to access their accounts just as freely as before. New research conducted by the Molly Rose Foundation, a prominent UK nonprofit focused on combating youth suicide, in partnership with an Australian youth research agency, found that 61% of children aged 12 to 15 said they could still log in to major social media platforms without issue.
The poll sampled 1,050 children and found that platforms had largely failed to identify and remove underage accounts. Crucially, respondents indicated they were not required to find technical workarounds — the platforms simply never enforced the removal of their accounts in the first place.
Platform-by-Platform Retention Rates
The survey data paints a stark picture of how ineffective enforcement has been across individual platforms:
- TikTok and YouTube each retained 53% of their previous underage user base.
- Instagram retained 52% of youth users who had accounts before the ban took effect.
These figures suggest that the ban, while symbolic in its intent, has had a limited practical impact on the digital habits of Australian minors.
Molly Rose Foundation Warns Against UK Following Suit
Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, was direct in his assessment of the findings. In a public statement, he said: "These results raise major questions about the effectiveness of Australia's social media ban and show it would be a high stakes gamble for the UK to follow suit now. Parents and children deserve better than a flawed ban that delivers a false sense of safety that quickly unravels."
The foundation used the research to argue that the UK should pursue a different path rather than emulating Australia's outright ban. Specifically, it called for amendments to the Online Safety Act to introduce what it described as a "systemic Duty of Care" — a framework that would compel companies to implement robust safety measures, enforce age restrictions, and remove content deemed unsuitable for younger audiences.
The foundation also urged the government to "reset regulatory incentives in favour of harm reduction and significantly strengthen the regulatory regime so that it is better targeted to the size and cash-rich position of the largest companies in the world."
UK Government Exploring Youth Social Media Restrictions
The research arrives at a pivotal moment for UK policymakers. In January, the British government announced it was studying options for restricting social media access for children under 16. More recently, the government launched a pilot program to test various reform models for how young people engage with social media.
A formal public consultation on the matter opened in early March and is scheduled to run through May 26, with a decision on next steps anticipated shortly thereafter. Prime Minister Keir Starmer framed the issue in January by stating that "being a child should not be about constant judgement from strangers or the pressure to perform for likes."
A Wave of Restrictions Sweeping Across Europe
The UK is far from alone in grappling with these questions. Several European governments have moved aggressively toward imposing their own restrictions on minors' access to social media:
- Greece: Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced last week that Greece will ban children under 15 from social media beginning January 1, 2027.
- France: On April 2, the French Senate voted to ban social media for children under 15, following similar legislation passed by the National Assembly in January. Because the two bills differ in their specifics, lawmakers must now negotiate a unified compromise.
- Spain: Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez stated in February that Spain would block children under 16 from using social media.
- Netherlands: The Dutch government announced plans around the same time to restrict social media access for children under 15.
At the European Union level, the European Parliament proposed a non-binding resolution in November asserting that children aged 15 and younger should not be permitted to use video-sharing platforms, social media services, or AI companion applications without explicit parental consent. The resolution went further, stating that children under 13 should be barred from such platforms entirely, regardless of parental permission.
Enforcement Remains the Central Challenge
The Australian case highlights what many experts consider the fundamental flaw in blanket bans: without robust technical mechanisms to verify age and enforce account removal, the burden of compliance falls almost entirely on platforms that have shown limited willingness to act. When children can simply continue using pre-existing accounts that were never flagged or removed, a ban becomes largely performative.
The Molly Rose Foundation's position is that legislative frameworks — such as the UK's Online Safety Act — offer a more durable path forward, provided they are strengthened with enforceable obligations rather than aspirational guidelines. Whether UK policymakers will heed that advice before the May 26 consultation deadline remains to be seen.
Source: The Record