Not so easy!
There’s this idea floating around that kids can easily bypass Australia’s under-16s social media (SM) ban simply by using a VPN.
It is not that simple!
Shadow-banning of VPNs
First, in my experience, websites and platforms are already ‘shadow banning’ VPNs even before the SM ban. For example, try signing up for an Apple account through a VPN and you will find unexplained problems and issues. Try watching YouTube anonymously through a VPN and you will encounter issues. Even Apple’s iCloud Private Relay are not exempted from ‘shadow banning’. For example, some parts of Telstra’s website will not work when you use Safari web-browser through iCloud Private Relay. Also, try doing Google searches through iCloud Private Relay and sometimes you’ll be greeted with CAPTCHA tests to prove you’re a human.
Other signals
Second, SM platforms have multiple ways to determine whether a user is ‘Australian’. For example,
- SM app is downloaded from an Australian App Store
- Timezone is set to an Australian city
- Language of the operating system is set to English (Australia)
- Phone number associated with the account is Australia
- IP address when the SM account was first signed up originates from Australia
- User is connecting to SM from Australian IP addresses most of the time prior to the ban
In other words, it is not so simple to evade the ban by suddenly pretending to be a non-Australian.