Social media use among Australian under-16s falling since ban implemented: gov't report

　　CANBERRA, July 31 (Xinhua) -- The proportion of Australian children with social media accounts fell by 10 percentage points in the first three months of the country's world-first under-16 social media ban, according to new data.

　　The eSafety Commissioner, Australia's online safety watchdog, on Friday released the first data from a long-term study tracking the progress of the social media ban.

　　It found that the proportion of under-16s with a social media account fell from 52.4 percent in December, when the ban was implemented, to 42.1 percent in March.

　　The proportion of children who reported using a social media platform, with or without an account, fell from 85.9 percent to 81.5 percent over the same period.

　　The eSafety Commissioner in March said it was investigating Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube for failing to comply with the ban.

　　Under current laws, platforms that systematically fail to prevent under-16s from holding and using accounts can face fines worth up to 49.5 million Australian dollars (about 34.8 million U.S. dollars).

　　The federal government in June announced plans to double the maximum fine to 99 million AUD.

　　The watchdog said the new report released on Friday showed that most under-16s who had social media accounts before the ban was implemented were still either retaining them or creating new accounts in March due to platforms' failure to apply effective age assurance measures.

　　It said that complex non-compliance investigations are ongoing. ■