According to Apple’s App Store charts, Lemon8, an app owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance, was the week’s most downloaded lifestyle app, followed by the photo-sharing app Yope
Australians have turned to a range of lesser-known apps following a sweeping social media ban that has blocked under-16s from popular platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat.
According to Apple’s App Store charts, Lemon8, an app owned by TikTok parent company ByteDance, was the week’s most downloaded lifestyle app, followed by the photo-sharing app Yope.
US-based video-sharing platform Coverstar, which markets itself as a safe space for children, ranked third, while the Chinese social media app RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu, has also seen user growth. Even Meta-owned messaging app WhatsApp has benefited, as younger users search for new ways to stay connected.
The surge in downloads comes after Australia became the first country to ban under-16s from using 10 apps deemed potentially harmful to children and teenagers. The law places responsibility on tech companies to verify users’ ages, and firms including Meta, X, TikTok, and Google must report data to the country’s digital regulator to show progress in deactivating over one million teen accounts.
The Australian government has indicated it may expand the law to cover additional apps if necessary. Lemon8, a sister company to TikTok, has held discussions with Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, which enforces the new rules. Yope has submitted a request for exemption, with Ismailau noting that the app “is built primarily for private messaging and has no algorithmic or public content at all.”
He added that a new wave of alternative apps is emerging to challenge the dominance of major social media companies that he said treat society like a “cash cow.”
Requests for comment from Lemon8, RedNote, and Coverstar were not returned.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that the country has “taken control back” from powerful tech giants as the ban on social media for teens started to take effect. “This is world-leading. This is Australia showing enough is enough. It is about our families taking back control,” Albanese said in a speech as the world-first laws came into effect.
Teens under the age of 16 lost their social media accounts on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok as the government ordered tech companies to remove such accounts or face a fine.
Hundreds of thousands of adolescents are impacted, with Instagram alone reporting about 350,000 Australian users aged 13 to 15. Not every Australian has to prove their age, only those suspected of falling foul of the ban. And young users are still able to access some social media without logging in – they just cannot register for their own accounts.
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