Investing.com — Restrictions preventing children under 16 from accessing major social media platforms in Australia, and a similar proposal now under consideration in the U.K., have prompted some to question whether Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store could face pressure on in-app purchase revenue.
Data from market intelligence firm Sensor Tower’s 2026 State of Mobile report shows that 2025 marked a shift in mobile spending, with non-game apps surpassing games for the first time.
Consumers are said to have spent an estimated $85 billion on in-app purchases last year, up 20 percent year over year and nearly triple 2020 levels. Social media was the top-grossing genre, with in-app revenue rising 13 percent to nearly $5 billion, led by TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat.
Asked about the potential fallout from under-16 bans, the report’s key author, Jonathan Brinksman, told Investing.com that the firm expects the effect on monetization to be “relatively limited,” with under 16s representing only a portion of total users, and their purchasing power “typically lower than that of older age groups, which tend to account for a disproportionate share of IAP spend.”
He pointed to global social-media IAP revenue rising 16 percent in 2025 and nearly tripling since 2020, with even faster gains in Australia and the U.K, with the momentum suggesting that “broader monetization trends may outweigh the impact of age-based restrictions,” he said.
However, he stated that platform exposure also varies. Brinksman noted that TikTok and Snapchat skew more toward younger audiences, while Meta’s apps lean older, a demographic split that could make the “revenue impact uneven across the category.”
“While our usage data covers users aged 18 and over, it still illustrates how age skews differ across platforms in Australia. Among users 18+, ages 18–24 account for roughly 44% of Snapchat’s audience and 42% of TikTok’s. Meta’s platforms skew older by comparison, with ages 18–24 representing about 30% of Instagram users and 17% of Facebook users,” he explained.
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