Sydney, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s social media ban for under 16s has had little impact on teenagers’ scrolling habits, researchers said Thursday in one of the first evaluations of the world-leading measures.

Australia in December banned under 16s from the likes of Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, in a crackdown designed to protect children from online bullying and “predatory algorithms”.

But there is little evidence to suggest teenagers have turned away from social media as a consequence, a team of Australia-based researchers found in a peer-reviewed study published by the British Medical Journal.