Australia’s Social Media Ban Shows UK Child Safety Rules Will Fail — Not Because of VPNs

Britain plans to bar under-16s from certain social media services from spring 2027. Australia introduced a comparable restriction on 10 December 2025, but its early results show that passing a ban is much easier than making platforms enforce it.

The evidence cannot prove Britain’s policy will fail before implementation. It does, however, reveal weaknesses that could defeat it—and the main problem is not teenagers using VPNs.