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Social Media Use on the Rise Among Australian Under-16s After Ban

The TikTok logo is displayed on signage outside TikTok social media app company offices in Culver City, California on September 30, 2025. (AFP)
The TikTok logo is displayed on signage outside TikTok social media app company offices in Culver City, California on September 30, 2025. (AFP)
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Social Media Use on the Rise Among Australian Under-16s After Ban

The TikTok logo is displayed on signage outside TikTok social media app company offices in Culver City, California on September 30, 2025. (AFP)
The TikTok logo is displayed on signage outside TikTok social media app company offices in Culver City, California on September 30, 2025. (AFP)

Australian under-16s are increasing their use of social media apps, such as Instagram and TikTok, despite a world-leading ban, data provided by a parental control software company showed Wednesday.

Australia implemented legislation barring children from social media platforms in December, with the UK, France and others following suit.

Youngsters' use of social media fell across the board when the legal restrictions were first implemented, data from parental control app Qustodio showed.

But since then their social media activity has climbed -- even approaching pre-ban levels for some apps.

The use of apps TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat among 10–12-year-olds and 13- to 15-year-olds was on the rise, data from parental control app Qustodio showed.

In the case of video-sharing site TikTok, 25.9 percent of 13-15 year-olds are still using the app -- just over a percentage point lower than before the ban came into force.

And use among 10–12-year-olds was just 0.06 percentage points below where it was before the ban.

"They could be accessing these platforms with VPNs, or obfuscating their ages," Yasmin London, Global Online Safety Expert for Qustodio, said.

"But it could really be as simple as they're just accessing these apps because the restrictions aren't working."

The data also showed children increasingly turning to messaging platform WhatsApp, which is not affected by the ban.

Qustodio said the data was gathered by analyzing anonymized monthly social media app usage among Australian children and showed the percentages of kids that had used the app for more than five consecutive minutes at least once in a given month.

Australian officials have said the ban is designed to protect children from online bullying and "predatory algorithms".

A team of Australia-based researchers in a peer-reviewed study published in June found little evidence to suggest teenagers have turned away from social media as a consequence, however.

New Zealand's government also this week said it would introduce legislation that could see firms like Meta fined up to 10 percent of their global revenue if they fail to comply.

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Orphaned Kittens Meet Sharks and Stingrays on an Aquarium Field Trip at Mall of America

This image taken from a Sea Life at Mall of America video shows a rescue kitten from the Bitty Kitty Brigade visiting Sea Life at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Sea Life at Mall of America via AP)
This image taken from a Sea Life at Mall of America video shows a rescue kitten from the Bitty Kitty Brigade visiting Sea Life at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Sea Life at Mall of America via AP)
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Orphaned Kittens Meet Sharks and Stingrays on an Aquarium Field Trip at Mall of America

This image taken from a Sea Life at Mall of America video shows a rescue kitten from the Bitty Kitty Brigade visiting Sea Life at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Sea Life at Mall of America via AP)
This image taken from a Sea Life at Mall of America video shows a rescue kitten from the Bitty Kitty Brigade visiting Sea Life at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Sea Life at Mall of America via AP)

A pair of kittens gazed up through the aquarium's shimmering blue waters as a (relatively) enormous fish passed overhead. One kitten stared transfixed through the glass while the other, unfazed, was more interested in darting around playfully.

Inside a clear dome, a kitten named Turkey Leg stood up on its back legs as brightly colored clownfish — think “Finding Nemo” — darted just inches from its whiskers. Raising a paw, it batted at the glass, mewing.

For nearly two hours, about two dozen rescue kittens with names like Lottie Dottie, Bendy Wendy and Mouth Trap romped through the Sea Life aquarium at the Mall of America, the largest shopping complex on the continent, located in a suburb of Minneapolis.

Some charged down a 300-foot (90-meter) underwater tunnel, stopping to stare at a sand tiger shark or sea turtles. Other cats found the aquarium's dim blue environment calming and closed their eyes for a little nap.

This was the sixth year the Bitty Kitty Brigade, a rescue organization in the Twin Cities that finds foster homes for orphaned neonatal kittens, held its “field trip” to the aquarium. Some of this year's kittens had Minnesota State Fair -themed names like Funnel Cake or Apple Fries.

“We just thought it’d be a really fun, engaging thing for kittens to see,” aquarium spokesperson John Sullwold said. The kittens came early Monday morning before the aquarium opened to the public.

In addition to raising awareness for the Bitty Kitty Brigade, these field trips are a great way for the young cats to socialize, said Kya Anderson, an event director with the group.

That can make it easier for them to adjust to new homes if they get adopted, she said.

The group is overseeing some 1,000 kittens this year.

“The kittens just get so excited to see, like, the fish swimming around,” Anderson said.

Sea Life has also invited puppies from Safe Hands Rescue, another foster-based animal rescue, but obviously not on the same day as the kittens.

“Much more running involved with the puppies,” Sullwold said.

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Belgium’s Francis Halzen Wins Nobel Prize in Physics

Eva Olsson, Ellen Moons, and Mark Pearce sit in front of a screen displaying Francis Halzen as the recipient of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics during a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 6, 2026. (Photo by Christine OLSSON / TT NEWS AGENCY / AFP)
Eva Olsson, Ellen Moons, and Mark Pearce sit in front of a screen displaying Francis Halzen as the recipient of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics during a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 6, 2026. (Photo by Christine OLSSON / TT NEWS AGENCY / AFP)
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Belgium’s Francis Halzen Wins Nobel Prize in Physics

Eva Olsson, Ellen Moons, and Mark Pearce sit in front of a screen displaying Francis Halzen as the recipient of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics during a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 6, 2026. (Photo by Christine OLSSON / TT NEWS AGENCY / AFP)
Eva Olsson, Ellen Moons, and Mark Pearce sit in front of a screen displaying Francis Halzen as the recipient of the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics during a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on October 6, 2026. (Photo by Christine OLSSON / TT NEWS AGENCY / AFP)

Belgian Francis Halzen won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for his contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and his discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the award in Stockholm.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.

Last year, three scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics for research on the strange behavior of subatomic particles called quantum tunneling that enabled the ultra-sensitive

measurements achieved by MRI machines and laid the groundwork for better cellphones and faster computers.

The announcements of this year's prizes began Monday with the Nobel Prize in medicine being awarded to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works.

This week's awards continue Wednesday with the chemistry prize and literature on Thursday. After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on Monday.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.

Varieties

Indonesia Says Will Halt Forest Destruction for Rice Paddies

A man attempts to extinguish flames with a bucket amid thick smoke and fires burning through peatland in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, on October 3, 2026. (Photo by REINA / AFP)
A man attempts to extinguish flames with a bucket amid thick smoke and fires burning through peatland in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, on October 3, 2026. (Photo by REINA / AFP)
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Indonesia Says Will Halt Forest Destruction for Rice Paddies

A man attempts to extinguish flames with a bucket amid thick smoke and fires burning through peatland in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, on October 3, 2026. (Photo by REINA / AFP)
A man attempts to extinguish flames with a bucket amid thick smoke and fires burning through peatland in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, on October 3, 2026. (Photo by REINA / AFP)

Indonesia said on Tuesday it will halt a project to raze several million hectares of forest to clear land for rice production, saying it had reached self-sufficiency levels of the staple grain.

The government launched a program in 2024 to stop relying on rice imports within five years by clearing three million hectares of land for paddies.

Indonesia is one of the world's most forested countries, and as such a major absorber of planet-warming carbon emissions from mankind's burning of fossil fuel.

It aims to become a net carbon sink by 2030, with forests and other land use absorbing more carbon than they emit.

However, observers have said continuing forest destruction for agriculture and logging, as well as rampant wildfires, could put Indonesia's plans at risk.

President Prabowo Subianto hailed an "important victory" this year after data showed countrywide rice demand had been met with domestic production in one of the world's top consumers of the commodity.

Climate envoy Hashim Djojohadikusumo said on Tuesday the government's strategic reserve rice stock had reached about 5.3 million tonnes.

"The government sees no further need for expanding rice cultivation areas in the so-called forest areas," said Hashim, who is Prabowo's brother.

He added that the government will focus instead on "intensification measures" using superior seeds, for example, to increase rice yields.

It was not known how much forest had already been replaced by rice paddies before the project was halted.

According to the National Food Agency, a government body that seeks to advance food security, Indonesia produced 34.71 million tons of rice in 2025 -- exceeding annual demand of 31.19 million tons.

Haze from wildfires consuming forests and peatlands in Indonesia has blanketed neighboring Malaysia and Singapore for weeks.

Hot, dry conditions associated with the El Nino weather phenomenon have fueled the fires, which are also linked to land clearing.

The Mighty Earth advocacy group welcomed Hashim's announcement, AFP reported.

"This decision renews Indonesia's leadership in showing how to expand agriculture while protecting nature," the NGO's founder, Glenn Hurowitz, said in a statement.

"This decision creates an opportunity for large-scale investments in achieving President Prabowo's goal of restoring 12 million hectares of forest, peat, and other ecosystems," he added.