What you should know about planned social media bans in Australia, the UK and beyond

ByTech Word News

Britain will introduce measures to ban social media for children under 16 and restrict access to other kinds of online interactions, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in an announcement on Monday.

Several other countries have announced plans for similar bans on social media as parents, educators and experts struggle to protect children from the potential harms associated with their use.

In December, Australia became the first country to ban anyone under 16 from using many social media apps. It was a closely watched test case for many countries, including Britain, which said it would adopt its own version of the Australian model. Six months on, most suggest that young teenagers in Australia who have already used social media are still doing so, although experts expect the benefits to be felt in the next generation.

The planned bans in Britain and other countries follow growing calls from parents and educators for governments and technology companies to do more to protect children online. In December, for example, a YouGov survey found that 74 percent of Britons support such a ban. On Monday, Britain said nine out of 10 parents who responded to a government survey were in favor.

Britain plans to ban social media for under-16s. Government he said in a statement on Monday that this will include Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X.

But Britain is planning to go further than Australia and introduce live streaming and communication with strangers blocks for children under 16. This would apply to gaming websites and other online services in addition to social media.

The government has also put forward plans to explore “night curfews and endless scrolling breaks” for anyone under 18, which it says should be detailed in July. It said AI chatbots that simulate romantic hookups or sexual role-playing with users would have to enforce a minimum age of 18, but did not set a timeline.

Taken together, Britain said the planned restrictions “will go further than any other country”. The government has said it will introduce legislation by the end of this year, with the ban expected to be in place until early 2027.

Mr Starmer acknowledged the new legislation would not stop all children from using social media, but said the Government still needed to act.

“They’re circumventing other laws, but we’re not saying, ‘Hey, a teenager managed to get drunk, so let’s not bother banning the sale of alcohol to children,'” he said. “We don’t do that, that would be absolutely ridiculous, so I just don’t accept that argument.”

Public pressure has increased in recent years as parents and educators worry about the harmful effects of social media on young people. A group of British parents of children who took their own lives after consuming negative content on social media have campaigned for years for the government to act.

In 2023, Britain introduced a broad law, the Online Safety Act, aimed at regulating harmful content.

A year later, when Britain’s Labor government was voted into office, officials said they had no plans to restrict social media for children or ban phones in schools.

Last month, the national media and internet regulator, known as Ofcom, stated that social media companies still did not enforce minimum age rules.

And this month, Mr Starmer said that unless technology companies operating in Britain put in place controls to prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images, the law would change.

The ban in Australia, which came into force in December, requires social media users to be at least 16 years old to access accounts on Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook and other platforms and services.

In January, the Australian regulator announced that the companies had “removed access” to around 4.7 million accounts belonging to children under 16.

But six months on, many young teens are still on the platform: In March, the Australian regulator reported that seven in 10 parents whose children already had a social media account said the teens still had access to one of the age-restricted services. Other polls said similar findings.

Teenagers say there are easy solutions. Some drew on mustaches to beat age estimation scans, while others created new accounts using a fake date of birth. Some have access to a parent’s or older sibling’s account, or continue to use their own accounts without issue.

Some parents say the real effect of the rule may be on younger kids who haven’t been on social media yet and may be left out because of the ban.

This month, Malaysia began enforcing rules banning children under 16 from having social media accounts. The government announced the plans in November.

The authorities said that age verification for existing users will be introduced within the next six months, The Associated Press reported about it. Companies could face fines, but not parents.

Spain: In February, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced plans for a similar ban that would require platforms to implement effective age verification systems. It would need the approval of Parliament to become law.

France: The ban on social networks for children under 15 could apply from the start of the school year in September. The plan is popular across the political spectrum and President Emmanuel Macron has been a vocal supporter of it.

Austria: In March the country announced plans ban social networks for children under 14 years of age.

Greece: Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in April that legislation banning social media for children under 15 would come into effect on January 1, 2027. The proposal has met with little opposition and the legislation is expected to be passed this summer.

Mr. Mitsotakis said that Greece does not want to distance children from technology, which can be a source of inspiration, knowledge and creativity. But he issued a warning: “The addictive design of certain apps, the profit model that is based on your attention, on how long you spend in front of your phone screens, and that robs you of your own innocence and freedom, must be stopped.”

Denmark: Country announced the plan November ban anyone under 15 from using certain social media platforms. Parents could give children age 13 and older permission to use social media.

The Danish Ministry of Digital Affairs said the aim was to keep children off social media until the age of 15. The ministry said it wants to give children more time for “calm, play and development” before they start using social media.

In March, Indonesia began implementing a new regulation banning children under 16 from using what it called “high-risk platforms,” ​​which included TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Roblox, the country’s national police force. he said in a statement.

China has some of the strictest restrictions on internet use in the world: It blocks many Western platforms, and authorities have imposed limits on how much time children can spend on its wide range of domestic social networks.

In 2021, Beijing limited the amount of time children can spend playing video games to three hours a week, and only from 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

A law that seeks to protect children from addictive, violent and pornographic content online entered into force in March.

The measure is not a ban. Instead, children under 16 would have to link their accounts to a legal guardian who could monitor their social media use. The law also prohibits platforms from using what Brazil called “manipulative design practices.”

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act prevents companies from collecting personal data of users under 13 years of age.

A blanket ban on social media for children would be difficult to enact, in part because states have their own laws. Some states have decided to limit use, but these efforts have been challenged in court for the sake of freedom of speech.

Megan Specia, Victoria Kim and Lynsey Chutel contributed reporting.