Teens are joyfully flouting Australia’s teen social media ban, using the maligned services to boast of their abilities to circumvent the rules and playfully taunt the prime minister for failing to keep them offline.
The first official day of the ban was marked by widespread circumvention of the ban, with wall-to-wall media coverage of young Australians saying they had no issue accessing social media despite the restrictions.
While the government has long — and increasingly loudly — warned that the ban wouldn’t be perfect, it still marked the December 10 start of the policy with statements like “across Australia, under-16s started their day a little differently: without social media,” Anthony Albanese wrote across social media.
