Australia has become the world's first country to ban social media for children under 16, blocking them from platforms including TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. This move comes amid growing concerns over the impact of social media on children's health and safety.
Several countries, including Austria, Brazil, Britain, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and the U.S., are also taking steps to regulate access to social media for minors.
Some countries have implemented age restrictions, while others are considering bans or stricter regulations. For example, Brazil's Digital Statute of Children and Adolescents requires minors under 16 to link their social media accounts to a legal guardian and bans addictive platform features.
Britain is considering an Australia-style ban on social media and tighter AI chatbots safety rules for children under 16. China's cyberspace regulator has put in place a "minor mode" programme that requires device-level restrictions and app-specific rules to restrict screen time depending on age.
The European Parliament has agreed on a resolution calling for a minimum age of 16 on social media and urging a harmonised EU digital age limit of 13 for social media access.
While social media platforms say people need to be at least 13 to sign up, child protection advocates say the controls are insufficient, and official data in several European countries shows huge numbers of children under 13 have social media accounts.
