Australia is the first to adopt age restrictions on social media platforms but it is unlikely to be the last

Australia is set to become the first country to implement a minimum age for social media use on Wednesday, with platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube forced to block more than a million accounts, marking the beginning of an expected global wave of regulation.

From midnight (1300 GMT), 10 of the biggest platforms will be required to block Australians aged under 16 or be fined up to A$49.5 million ($33 million). The law received harsh criticism from major technology companies and free speech advocates, but was praised by parents and child advocates.

The rollout closes out a year of speculation about whether a country can block children from using technology that is built into modern life. And it begins a live experiment that will be studied globally by lawmakers who want to intervene directly because they are frustrated by what they say is a tech industry that has been too slow to implement effective harm-minimisation efforts.

Governments from Denmark to Malaysia – and even some states in the U.S., where platforms are rolling back trust and safety features – say they plan similar steps, four years after a leak of internal Meta META.O documents showed they knew its products contributed to body image problems and suicidal thoughts among teenagers while publicly denying the link existed.

“While Australia is the first to adopt such restrictions, it is unlikely to be the last,” said Tama Leaver, a professor of internet studies at Curtin University.

“Governments around the world are watching how the power of Big Tech was successfully taken on. The social media ban in Australia … is very much the canary in the coal mine.”

A spokesperson for the British government, which in July began forcing websites hosting pornographic content to block under-18 users, said it was “closely monitoring Australia’s approach to age restrictions.”

Countries move to curb children’s social media access

AUSTRALIA
A landmark law passed in November 2024 forces major social media platforms to block minors younger than 16 starting on Wednesday, one of the world’s toughest regulations targeting major tech platforms.

Companies that fail to comply could face penalties of up to A$49.5 million ($32.8 million).

BRITAIN
The Online Safety Act sets tougher standards for social media platforms, including age restrictions to block minors from accessing harmful content.

The law was passed in 2023 and enforcement began this year. No age limit for accessing social media has been set.

CHINA
China’s cyberspace regulator has put in place a so-called “minor mode” programme that requires device-level restrictions and app-specific rules to restrict screen time depending on age.

DENMARK
Denmark said in November it would ban social media for children under 15, while allowing parents to give exemptions for youngsters down to the age of 13 to access certain platforms.

A majority of parties in Parliament said they would back the plan ahead of a formal vote.

FRANCE
In 2023, France passed a law requiring social platforms to get parental consent for minors under 15 to create accounts. But according to local media, technical challenges have impeded its enforcement.

GERMANY
Minors between the ages of 13 and 16 are allowed to use social media only if their parents provide consent. But child protection advocates say controls are insufficient.

ITALY
In Italy, children under the age of 14 need parental consent to sign up for social media accounts, while no consent is required from that age upwards.

MALAYSIA
Malaysia said in November it would ban social media for users under the age of 16 starting next year.

NORWAY
The Norwegian government in October 2024 proposed raising the age at which children can consent to the terms required to use social media to 15 years from 13, although parents would still be permitted to sign off on their behalf if they are under the age limit.

The government has also begun work on legislation to set an absolute minimum age limit of 15 for social media use.

USA
The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act prevents companies from collecting personal data from children under 13 without parental consent.

Several states have also passed laws requiring parental consent for minors to access social media, but they have faced court challenges on free speech grounds.

EU LEGISLATION
The European Parliament in November agreed on a resolution calling for a minimum age of 16 on social media to ensure “age-appropriate online engagement.”

It also urged a harmonised EU digital age limit of 13 for social media access and an age limit of 13 for video-sharing services and “AI companions.”

The resolution is not legally binding.

TECH’S OWN REGULATION
Social media platforms including TikTok, Facebook and Snapchat SNAP.N say people need to be at least 13 to sign up.

Child protection advocates say the controls are insufficient, however, and official data in several European countries show huge numbers of children under 13 have social media accounts.

“When it comes to children’s safety, nothing is off the table,” they added.

Few will scrutinise the impact as closely as the Australians. The eSafety Commissioner, an Australian regulator tasked with enforcing the ban, hired Stanford University and 11 academics to analyse data on thousands of young Australians covered by the ban for at least two years.

BEGINNING OF THE END

Though the ban covers 10 platforms initially, including Alphabet’s GOOGL.O YouTube, Meta’s Instagram and TikTok, the government has said the list will change as new products appear and young users switch to alternatives.

Of the initial 10, all but Elon Musk’s X have said they will comply using age inference – guessing a person’s age from their online activity – or age estimation, which is usually based on a selfie. They might also check with uploaded identification documents or linked bank account details.

Musk has said the ban “seems like a backdoor way to control access to the internet by all Australians” and most platforms have complained that it violates people’s right to free speech. An Australian High Court challenge overseen by a libertarian state lawmaker is pending.

For the social media businesses, the implementation marks a new era of structural stagnation as user numbers flatline and time spent on platforms shrinks, studies show.

Platforms say they don’t make much money showing advertisements to under-16s, but they add that the ban interrupts a pipeline of future users. Just before the ban took effect, 86% of Australians aged 8 to 15 used social media, the government said.

“The days of social media being seen as a platform for unbridled self-expression, I think, are coming to an end,” said Terry Flew, the co-director of University of Sydney’s Centre for AI, Trust and Governance.

Platforms responded to negative headlines and regulatory threats with measures like a minimum age of 13 and extra privacy features for teenagers, but “if that had been the structure of social media in the boom period, I don’t think we’d be having this debate,” he added.