What’s the future of social media bans for Australian teens?

A month after Australia banned under-16s from using social media platforms, some teens are happy to be free from distractions, while others have found ways to get around the law.

The Online Safety Amendment Act requires major social media platforms such as: meta Instagram, ByteDance’s TikTok, Alphabet’s YouTube, Elon Musk’s

Technology companies, not parents or teens, face the consequences of any breach. This includes fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million) for failing to take “reasonable steps” to comply.

The Australian government has said it will protect teenagers from the mental health harms it says are caused by social media, including addictive algorithmic designs and decreased sleep and increased stress.

Opponents of the ban argued that it would be ineffective.

Here are the top three takeaways on how the ban is progressing a month later.

Some teens try to embrace new habits, while others try to evade the law.

Amy, 14, has been keeping a diary since the ban began and told the BBC in a recent report that she feels “free” from the pressure of maintaining a presence on Snapchat, one of the affected platforms.

“I used to call my friends on Snapchat after school, but I couldn’t do that anymore, so I went for a run,” Amy wrote in her diary.

Downloads of some unaffected apps, including ByteDance-owned Lemon8, Yope and Discord, soared in the days after the law went into effect, the BBC reported.

Downloads of VPNs, which hide a user’s location to circumvent country-specific restrictions, increased before the ban. Downloads are now back to normal and social media platforms are expected to detect VPNs as part of the law.

But the Australian government has noticed. According to The West Australian, Lemon 8 subsequently determined that the age restriction should be included in the ban and complied with the age restriction requirements. The Australian government also asked Mr Yopu to self-assess whether he should do so.

Tech companies are complying, but are asking the Australian government to reconsider.

Meta announced in January that it had blocked more than 500,000 under-16 accounts in Australia, but added that age verification needs to be extended to app stores. The group said teenagers use more than 40 apps a week, many of which are not covered by the ban, and argued that this means they could still be exposed to harmful content.

The tech giant had previously warned that the ban would cut off teens from their friends and communities.

Reddit, another banned platform, has gone further and launched a legal challenge against the Australian government, arguing that the ban is inefficient and restricts young people’s freedom of speech.

Reddit previously said in a statement to CNBC that the law could isolate teens from opportunities to participate in “age-appropriate community experiences, including political discussion.”

“Children’s political views not only influence the electoral choices of many current voters, including their parents and teachers, but also others who are interested in the views of children who will soon reach adulthood,” Reddit added.

Australia has become the first country to implement such a blanket social media ban for under-16s amid growing concerns about the negative impact of the platforms. Now, others may follow suit.

There is particular interest among British politicians. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told MPs on Monday he was concerned about children’s screen time and called for an Australian-style ban.

Also of interest in the US: A Fox News poll of more than 1,000 registered voters found that 64% of respondents supported banning social media for teenagers and banning cell phone use in K-12 classrooms. Two-thirds of parents also supported the ban, while 36% opposed it.