Some 26% of Australian children aged 13 to 15 were on TikTok last month, one point below where the rate sat before the country's under-16 ban took effect in December, according to Qustodio. Use among 10- to 12-year-olds now runs higher than it did before the ban, and Instagram and Snapchat have started climbing back after their own initial drops. Children may be obfuscating their ages, running VPNs to hide where they are, or never hitting a working age check at all, said Qustodio's Yasmin London. WhatsApp, which the rules don't cover, has gone from 27% of 13- to 15-year-olds to 36%. Australia said in June that the platforms weren't doing enough and pledged to double the maximum penalty to A$99M, though nobody has been fined yet.
