Australia’s Social Media Ban Meets a Wave of Teen Workarounds

Jagger feels left out. The 11-year-old Australian doesn’t have YouTube, TikTok or Snapchat, unlike many of her friends, and finds she can’t keep up when they’re talking about the latest memes and online trends. “It’s just hard to understand everything,” she says.

The youngster from Brisbane is subject to a world-first law that bars under-16s from social media amid concerns about the potential harm they face online. Some 4.7 million accounts were shuttered when the ban came into effect in December. But many kids, including Jagger’s friends, are circumventing the restrictions — tricking age-verification checks with photos of older siblings ...