Banning social media for children under 16 can push young people into dangerous online spaces, researcher Li Ke warned at a conference on Wednesday.
Speaking at the University of Macau, the Shanghai International Studies University doctoral candidate argued that well-intentioned restrictions often produce the opposite of their intended effect.
Li presented her findings at the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Forum on Digital Transformation and Social Equity: Studies in Technology, Identity and Humanity. She said age restrictions create a paradox where children become adept at bypassing controls but remain ill-equipped with the cyber literacy needed to protect themselves.
Global spread of social media restrictions
The researcher criticized Australia for introducing landmark 2024 legislation that requires digital platforms to block access for users under 16. Australia became the first country in the world to pass such a law, sparking a global movement among lawmakers.
Countries including France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia have since implemented similar measures. Meanwhile, governments in Denmark, Thailand, and South Korea are actively considering comparable social media restrictions for minors.
Li noted that as governments attempt to enforce top-down controls through legislation, young users quickly develop subtle forms of resistance to navigate around the rules.
Evasion techniques and virtual private networks
Citing data published in a British medical journal, Li stated that about 86 percent of Australian under-16s accessed at least one restricted platform during the week immediately following the implementation of the ban.
Between 15 percent and 19 percent of those surveyed admitted to using virtual private networks or fake accounts to bypass the restrictions. A virtual private network, or VPN, is a digital tool that masks or alters a user's location online.
Independent research from the Centre for Media Studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing confirmed a sharp rise in evasion tactics. Downloads of VPN software in Australia increased nearly threefold around the time the ban took effect.
At the same time, activity on messaging applications such as WhatsApp expanded significantly. According to the Tsinghua study, this shift demonstrated that young users simply migrated their daily social interactions to alternative online environments.
Risks of covert internet usage
Li observed that children frequently borrow adult identity credentials, often with the explicit consent of their parents, to establish online accounts. Minors also repurpose educational tools and gaming platforms with lighter content moderation, converting them into hidden social chat rooms.
She warned that this digital detour creates severe risks by removing family and school oversight. Unregulated digital spaces increase children's vulnerability to cyberbullying, financial fraud, and online predatory behaviour.
Describing what she termed the protection paradox, Li explained that attempts by authorities to build an entirely risk-free environment structurally weaken children's ability to learn self-protection through risk-based trial and error, potentially opening the door to even more damaging outcomes.
Recommendations for digital literacy and policy
To address these challenges, Li urged governments to move away from static age limits and involve young people as active participants when designing internet policy.
She called on parents to focus on understanding their children's online relationships and digital experiences rather than strictly policing screen time, emphasizing the need to build practical digital literacy.
Because the digital landscape evolves rapidly, static bans struggle to adapt, Li concluded, adding that governance strategies must evolve alongside children's online behavior.
