New Delhi, Aug. 1 -- 81 percent of under-16s surveyed after three months retained or opened accounts on age-restricted platforms, down just five percentage points from the 86 percent recorded before the ban took effect.

Daily usage barely moved. Fifty-eight percent of teenagers reported using social media every day after three months, compared with 60 percent before the ban. By the regulator's own accounting, the world's boldest attempt to legislate children off the internet produced a two-percentage-point difference in daily engagement. The primary reason, as Al Jazeera reported, was not determined teenagers outfoxing regulators. It was the platforms themselves. About half of the children who still had accounts said the apps had never a...