Around the World, Governments Are Banning Kids From Social Media

It feels like every morning there’s a new headline about kids glued to their phones, and now a surprising number of governments are stepping in. Some have already signed laws, others are still drafting bills, but the common thread is the same: stop children under a certain age from opening social‑media accounts.

Australia leads the pack with its Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act, which came into force in December 2025. Anyone under 16 can’t legally sign up for TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X or Snapchat. The platform must prove it’s taken “reasonable steps” to verify age – a requirement that, according to a July 2026 advisory report, is proving harder to enforce than hoped.

Brazil followed suit a few months later. The Digital Statute of Children and Adolescents, effective March 2026, forces users under 16 to link their accounts to a legal guardian. It also bans design tricks that keep users scrolling, such as auto‑play.

In Malaysia, the Online Safety Act 2025 (ONSA) went live on 1 January 2026 and became operational in June. The rule bars anyone under 16 from creating accounts on services with more than eight million users – a list that includes YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

Indonesia took a different route with a presidential decree on 6 March 2026. The government announced that accounts belonging to anyone under 16 would be deactivated on a shortlist of “high‑risk” platforms, again naming YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and a few others.

Across Europe, the landscape is a patchwork. Austria announced a draft bill in March 2026 that would ban accounts for those younger than 14 and introduce a compulsory school subject on media literacy. France is negotiating a compromise that could block account creation for under‑15s starting 1 September 2026, with existing accounts to be shut down by January 2027.

The European Union itself is gearing up for a continent‑wide proposal. In July 2026, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a plan to prohibit social‑media accounts for under‑13s, impose stricter parental‑control tools and hold platforms liable for harmful content.

Meanwhile, other countries are still in the idea stage. Denmark’s prime minister hinted at a ban for under‑15s that might roll out next year, and Poland’s education minister spoke of a similar measure for under‑15s in early 2027. Greece and Canada have also floated bills that would bar under‑16s and under‑15s respectively, but those proposals haven’t cleared parliament yet.

Not every government is moving forward. In Germany, officials admit they are only “considering” a ban and haven’t drafted concrete legislation. And while many of these rules sound decisive on paper, experts warn that enforcement is a whole other story – age‑verification tech is still evolving, and kids often find workarounds.

What’s clear, though, is the momentum. Whether it’s a full‑blown law or a draft bill, more and more policymakers are saying: let’s give kids a break from the endless scroll, at least until they’re a bit older and a bit wiser.