Where the harm resides

As anticipated, Australia’s social media ban has become a "pathbreaking measure" for many countries across the world. The new UK prime minister Andy Burnham is pressing ahead with an Australian-style social media ban for under-16s in spring 2027. And last week, France became the first EU nation to pass a bill banning social media access for under 15s – to be enforced by September 2026 – alongside bans on mobile phone use in high schools.

While Australia and France largely focus on the inability of teenagers to have accounts on designated platforms, the UK model goes further by targeting account access and platform features across a wider range of digital services. It introduces default settings for 16- and 17-year-olds to ensure "no cliff edge" in the protection of older teenagers. These include overnight curfews between 12am-6am, with notifications disabled, alongside reduced addictive features like infinite scrolling and personalised feeds – although teenagers can choose to turn them off. For under 16s, the UK would also restrict "high-risk features" including livestreaming across all platforms, sexualised or romantic functionality of AI companions and chatbots, and unsolicited or direct communication with strangers, including for gaming.

Based on the EU Commission’s Child safety online report, there is an emerging proposal for a harmonised EU-wide "social media plus" ban for under-13s which similarly extends concern beyond digital platforms’ access to “predatory” features such as infinite scrolling, autoplay, push notifications, unsolicited contact, and highly-personalised feeds, to video games and AI chatbots. As of writing, the proposal has been opposed by Estonia, which advocates for strictly enforcing existing regulation of big tech platforms.

Outside Europe, governments are experimenting with different models. In June 2026, the United Arab Emirates became the first middle eastern country to introduce the social media ban. It combined an Australian-style minimum age, barring under-15s from holding accounts, with UK-style restrictions on elevated risks (including intensive algorithmic recommendations, unrestricted private messaging, and open livestreaming). And it went further on age verification requiring ID checks, biometrics matching, or AI-based age estimation. Brazil’s 2026 Digital Child and Adolescent Statute has rejected age self-declaration and instead requires under-16s to have their accounts linked to their legal guardians’ across any online platform with content feed, communication tools, or adult content. And social networks, search engines, messaging apps, streaming platforms, and video games have been explicitly required to limit manipulative design features that increase or sustain screen time. Under Vietnam’s proposed ‘read-only’ model, children under 16 would be barred from posting, reacting, and commenting, while still having access to social media accounts registered under the information of their parents or legal guardians, who in turn would be responsible for supervising content consumption and screen time.

The effectiveness of Australia’s model is being questioned, but governments around the world are following in its footsteps. Despite broader political consensus that teenagers need greater safeguards online, these infancy-stage policies reflect very different ideas about where the harms reside – from access and age-verification systems to public participation and platform design.

References 

What is Australia's under-16 social media ban? The world-first law explained: https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2025/12/05/what-is-australias-under-16-social-media-ban-the-world-first-law-explained.html 

French parliament approves social media ban for under-15s, a first in the EU: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/07/21/france-set-to-pass-eu-first-ban-on-social-media-for-under-15s_6755681_7.html 

Fact sheet: New rules to protect children online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fact-sheet-new-rules-to-protect-children-online/fact-sheet-new-rules-to-protect-children-online 

Liz Kendall's statement on children and social media: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/liz-kendalls-statement-on-children-and-social-media 

Child safety online: https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/d833504d-5ec3-4fac-945f-38e7d0bd5326_en?filename=Special-panel-report.pdf 

Statement by President von der Leyen with the Co-Chairs of the Special Panel on child safety online: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/statement_26_1590 

As EU Countries Debate Approach to Social Media Bans, Estonia Still Says No: https://eestielu.ca/as-eu-countries-debate-approach-to-social-media-bans-estonia-still-says-no/ 

Cabinet Resolution No. (106) of 2026 Regarding the Regulation of Children's Access to Social Media Platforms: https://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/4506/download 

Digital Statute of the Child and Adolescent: https://www.gov.br/mdh/pt-br/assuntos/noticias/2025/novembro/brasil-apresenta-avancos-em-seguranca-digital-da-infancia-e-lanca-eca-digital-em-ingles-durante-cupula-social-do-g20-na-africa-do-sul/eca-digital-ing-v2.pdf 

Vietnam proposes banning under-16s from posting on social media: https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/vietnam-proposes-banning-under-16s-posting-social-media-2026-07-24/ 

Australia's teen social media ban fails to clear first hurdle in age checks, says study: https://www.reuters.com/world/australias-teen-social-media-ban-fails-clear-first-hurdle-age-checks-says-study-2026-07-07/ 

Social Media Minimum Age: Compliance update: https://www.esafety.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-03/SocialMediaMinimumAgeComplianceUpdateMarch2026.pdf?v=1774905032806