So the "ban" is not working?

Did anyone seriously believe that all that had to happen was for the government to say, "We are banning under 16s from social media" and it would actually happen.

Did the government seriously believe that the companies owning social media would suddenly be "responsible" and put in place to make sure measures would be taken to implement the ban?

Did anyone seriously believe that those same under 16s would willingly give up social media and suddenly become good, law abiding little citizens?

Hmm,...then why is it that it is thought that only about thirty percent of those who were on social media platforms are now no longer on them? I would be surprised if even thirty percent of them were no longer on social media. They are simply those who are reporting they no longer spend much time there. For some of them it was probably a relief to get away from the time spent scrolling away but they are not in the majority.

The only real difference I have noticed is that the teens I know no longer do it so openly. They are not gathering around in their usual "hang outs" and laughing over video clips. They are doing it more cautiously.

"Big tech" as many people call it will not take responsibility for implementing the ban. They can put measures in place but this not alcohol or tobacco or other illegal substances which have an actual tangible presence. Yes, you can make people responsible for supplying those. Trying to make social media platforms responsible for a ban on something which is much less tangible is unrealistic. 

I recently went through the process of getting a new passport. In order to do this I had to provide a certain amount of information. I had to appear at a post office and get my photograph taken. My identity was checked against my old passport records and verified by the staff member at the post office. If I had done it all on line my identity would still have been verified by someone else who had physically seen me and could verify they knew me. This is the government at work making sure I am the person I say I am. It is not someone who prints the passports or a travel company providing me with a ticket to travel.

We have set about this the wrong way if we want to stop teens using social media. It is not the role of the companies to do this. It is the role of those who are responsible for the under 16s, parents and teachers for the most part. 

Parents allowing a child access to social media have to be held responsible for harm done, so do teachers while a child is at school.  Yes, difficult but it does not make it the problem  or the responsibility of the social media giants.