Australian industry data tracking youth online behaviour shows that a substantial minority of teenagers under 16 continued to use major social media platforms in the two months after a national ban required platforms to prevent access by minors.
The report, compiled by parental control software company Qustodio from data collected from Australian families between late 2024 and February, found that more than one-fifth of 13-to-15-year-olds still used TikTok and Snapchat after the ban came into force in December. While usage among this age group fell compared with pre-ban levels, the declines left both apps still in use by a meaningful share of the cohort.
Qustodio reported that Snapchat use among Australians aged 13-15 fell by 13.8 percentage points to 20.3% from November to February. TikTok use in the same age group dropped by 5.7 percentage points to 21.2%. YouTube usage in that cohort edged down by one percentage point to 36.9%, although the dataset does not indicate whether those YouTube users were logged into accounts.
Under the Australian law, major platforms including Meta’s Instagram, Facebook and Threads, Google’s YouTube, TikTok and Snapchat are required to block people under 16 from using their services or face fines up to A$49.5 million ($35 million). The internet regulator, the eSafety Commissioner, has said it will allow time for platforms to adapt and intends to pursue enforcement action only for systemic non-compliance.
Qustodio highlighted a specific angle on household-level controls. The company noted that among children whose parents had not implemented device- or account-level blocks, a meaningful number continued to access restricted platforms in the months after the ban took effect. The dataset therefore points to a mix of platform-level restrictions and parental controls influencing actual access.
The data also showed seasonal patterns that typically influence Australian teenage social media use. December and January usage often declines during the country’s extended summer school break. Qustodio said the fall in December-January usage this season was steeper than in the prior year, which it interpreted as evidence that the ban had an effect. However, the report added that some of the declines observed in December and January were beginning to recover.
Concerns that teenagers might simply migrate to unregulated or lesser-known platforms did not appear to materialise in the Qustodio dataset. The company did find a small uptick in WhatsApp use among 13-to-15-year-olds, but did not report substantial shifts to other unregulated services.
The Australian government and at least two university research teams are also monitoring the ban’s impact, although none of these bodies had published data at the time of Qustodio’s report. The eSafety Commissioner and the Communications Minister were not immediately available for comment. Representatives for Snapchat and TikTok did not provide comment in response to requests related to the Qustodio findings.
Qustodio’s results represent some of the earliest publicly shared industry data on how the new legal requirement has affected youth platform use in Australia. The company’s analysis is based on parental control software signals and therefore reflects a subset of household behaviours rather than a full national survey.
For reference, the report included the currency conversion rate used in its coverage: $1 equals 1.4122 Australian dollars.