In a landmark policy shift aimed at shielding young people from harmful online content and the risks of prolonged screen time, the United Kingdom has announced plans to prohibit all individuals under the age of 16 from accessing a suite of major social media platforms, including Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube.
This move places the UK at the forefront of a growing international push to enforce age-based access controls for social media, a trend that has sparked intense debate across stakeholder groups. While many parents and child protection organizations have praised the new restrictions as a much-needed step to safeguard vulnerable youth, critics have raised two core concerns: the policies are largely unworkable in practice, and they carry significant risks to user privacy that have not been adequately addressed.
To contextualize the UK’s new policy, a global scan of similar regulatory efforts reveals a coordinated wave of action targeting minor’s social media access:
**Australia**
Australia pioneered one of the world’s most sweeping nationwide under-16 social media bans when it rolled out its policy last December. The regulation bars users under 16 from holding accounts on 10 major platforms, covering Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, and Twitch. Non-compliant tech firms face maximum fines of 49.5 million Australian dollars, equivalent to roughly 35 million U.S. dollars. To date, no penalties have been issued, but the Australian government reports that platforms have already closed nearly 5 million accounts confirmed to belong to underage users.
**Indonesia**
Back in March, Indonesian authorities unveiled their own restrictions, barring users under 16 from creating accounts on a wide range of platforms deemed to carry risks of addiction, pornography, online scams, and cyberbullying. The prohibited platforms include major global services such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and the popular gaming platform Roblox.
**Malaysia**
Malaysia’s regulatory framework requires all social media platforms with at least 8 million active domestic users — including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube — to implement mandatory age verification systems and block under-16 users from registering new accounts. Companies that fail to meet the requirements face financial penalties of up to 10 million Malaysian ringgit, or approximately 2.5 million U.S. dollars.
**Brazil**
Brazil has taken a more nuanced approach to regulation, with a new law that came into force in March stopping short of a full ban on under-16 social media use. Instead, the law requires all accounts held by users under 16 to be linked to a legal guardian to enable adult supervision. The legislation also outlaws intentionally addictive platform features, such as infinite scroll and automatic video playback. Additionally, it mandates that platforms implement robust age verification mechanisms that go far beyond simple self-declaration of age, to block minors from accessing inappropriate content.
**Canada**
Earlier this month, Canadian lawmakers introduced new legislation that would establish a dedicated national regulator, the Digital Safety Commission of Canada. Under the proposed rules, users under 16 would be barred from holding social media accounts unless platform operators can prove they have effective systems in place to remove harmful content, including nonconsensual intimate imagery, content that encourages self-harm in minors, and material that incites violence or spreads hatred.
**Global Pipeline of New Regulation**
A host of other nations are already in the process of developing or considering their own age-based restrictions on social media access for minors. This group includes France, Spain, Denmark, Greece, Thailand, and South Korea, signaling that the global trend toward stricter online protection for youth is only expected to accelerate in the coming months.