Exclusive: Australia's landmark social media ban for under-16s came into effect this morning, but young Aussies say it's already failing.
Zoe Buttel, 14, stayed up until midnight to see if she'd be booted from age-restricted platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
But when the clock hit 12.01am, nothing happened.
AS IT HAPPENED: Under-16 social media ban kicks in
It was the same story for three other under-16s nine.com.au spoke to this morning, despite Communications Minister Anika Wells claim that 200,000 TikTok accounts had been deactivated this morning.
Another teen revealed she'd only been booted from one platform.
Alicia Liu, 13, was banned from Snapchat the day before the ban started but found a way around it within hours.
"There's a lot of loopholes," she told nine.com.au.
Emme Anderson, 14, knows kids who used their older siblings' or parents' IDs to trick the new age verification tools most age-restricted platforms have introduced.
But she and fellow 14-year-olds Rose Pickles and Zara Connolly didn't have to.
Their accounts simply weren't flagged – at least, not yet.
"Every time I click onto the app I'm preparing myself to be kicked off," Pickles said.
READ MORE: How Australia's world-leading social media ban will be enforced
It's a scary thought for teens who have spent their whole lives online, using social media to connect and communicate with their peers on a daily basis.
For some, it's hourly.
Of the five teens nine.com.au spoke to, Anderson had the lowest average daily screentime of about six to seven hours.
Pickles and Liu averaged about eight or nine hours on their phones, while Connolly had recently racked up 15 hours in a single day when she'd been home sick.
Buttel had gone so far as to deactivate the screentime tracker on her phone.
"I was disappointed in it, so I just deleted it," she said.
The girls agreed they could all probably stand to spend a little less time on their phones but said a blanket social media ban isn't the answer.
READ MORE: The responsibility of keeping under-16s off social media lies entirely with the apps. Here is how it will work
The adults behind the ban, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Minister for Communications Anika Wells and eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, insist it will cause a huge, positive cultural change in Australia.
Albanese has said it will save lives and encourage kids to get outside instead of scrolling.
Connolly wasn't convinced.
"Not everyone is going to go outside just because social media's gone," she said.
Liu and Buttel agreed and said new apps will just be created to fill the void left by platforms like TikTok and Snapchat, like Lemon8.
If those become age-restricted, more will crop up in their place.
READ MORE: Here are the platforms that will be included in the under-16s social media ban. But there's a caveat
Albanese has also presented the ban as a huge step towards improving youth mental health, but Pickles said it could backfire.
"Right now I think a lot of teens, the way they help or keep their mental health stable is on social media, talking to their friends or watching creators that help," she explained.
"The social media ban feels like a punishment for something we didn't create."
Anderson questioned claims that the ban will protect under-16s from harmful content, predators, and abuse on social media.
"Instead of taking us completely away from social media, they should implement something that'll stop us getting that [kind of content] on our for your page," she said.
Otherwise, that harmful content will be right there waiting for young Aussies as soon as they turn 16.
READ MORE: Will children under 16 get in trouble for accessing social media when the ban comes into effect?
And it could have an even worse effect on them if they've never been exposed to social media or taught how to navigate it responsibly.
Which is why all five teens agreed that social media education for under-16s would be better and more effective than a ban.
They called for the government to invest in educating school-aged children on the risks and benefits of social media and how to stay safe online.
They also suggested more pressure should be put on individual social media platforms to provide safety tools for young people to protect them from harmful content.
Because kids are going to get online regardless of the ban, so they may as well know how to do it safely.
"It's like learning how to drive a car," Pickles said.
"You actually have someone helping you along the way, and then you finally learn how to use it."
READ MORE: The apps Australian kids are switching to ahead of social media ban
It's not just young Aussies railing against the ban either.
Reddit is reportedly preparing a legal challenge to the social media ban, and Amnesty International called it an "ineffective quick fix".
The US-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a non-profit and non-partisan body, said the ban cuts youth off from the benefits of social media and creates privacy risks for all users.
"People say, 'oh, we've been teenagers before, we know what it's like' … but they haven't been teenagers in this age," Anderson said.
"We've basically grown up on social media, they haven't done that, so they don't understand."
Have you got a story? Contact reporter Maddison Leach at Google Play.
