Australia is fining platforms up to A$49.5 million for allowing under‑16s on major social networks. Canberra's December 2025 law bars under‑16s from platforms including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X and requires companies to verify users are 16 or older. Denmark plans a ban for under‑15s that could become law by mid‑2026; Austria has proposed blocking access up to age 14 and expects draft legislation by June. Rights groups warn mandatory age checks may invade privacy and won't stop younger users finding workarounds.

What the new rules say

Australia was first to put a blanket restriction in place. The government’s December 2025 law forbids children under 16 from using major social platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch and Kick. The statute leaves out messaging-only services such as WhatsApp and curated kids' apps like YouTube Kids.

The law doesn't just ban accounts: it requires platforms to verify users are 16 or older and forbids relying on self-declared ages. Companies that don't comply face penalties capped at A$49.5 million.

Denmark and Austria have followed with their own proposals. Denmark announced late in 2025 its intention to bar children under 15 from mainstream social networks; the government says the plans have backing from a majority in parliament and could be enacted as soon as mid‑2026.

Austria announced in March 2026 a plan to ban access for under‑14s and expects to finalise draft legislation by June.

Why governments are acting

Officials behind the moves point to a cluster of harms linked to social media use by young people: cyberbullying, addictive behaviours, mental‑health pressures and exposure to predators. The three governments say restricting access will reduce those risks and give parents and schools more breathing room to manage teenage online life.

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Policy‑makers describe the measures as preventative; they argue that the easier it is for platforms to allow underage accounts, the harder it is to protect children from abusive or manipulative content. Platforms, they add, should shoulder more of that responsibility.

Privacy and enforcement concerns

Not everyone agrees with the approach. Amnesty Tech has criticised bans and strict age checks as blunt instruments that could lead to intrusive verification systems.

The group warns such systems might require biometric checks or identity documents that put young people's privacy at risk.

So there's a tension. Governments want reliable age verification. Privacy advocates say the methods floated — face scans, ID uploads, centralised databases — would create new vulnerabilities for minors. And tech companies worry about both the costs and the public backlash of storing sensitive data on millions of users.

Enforcement raises practical questions too. Young people can and do use VPNs, borrow older relatives' devices, or lie about their age. Schools and households with shared devices present another challenge: how does a platform distinguish a 17‑year‑old from a bored 13‑year‑old on the same tablet?

How platforms might respond

Companies face stark choices. They can build robust age‑gating that relies on multiple verification methods. Or they can maintain looser checks and risk fines. Either route will be costly and technically complex.

Some platforms already use a mix of signals to estimate age: behavioural patterns, purchase histories, and AI‑driven inferences. But the new laws demand stronger proof, not probabilistic guessing. That pushes platforms toward explicit verification tools that are harder to design without collecting more personal data.

Platforms will also need to decide where to draw lines. Australia's law singles out a long list of mainstream sites, but it exempts messaging apps and dedicated children's services. That creates a patchwork: a service that looks, acts and spreads short videos like TikTok could be treated differently under the law depending on how regulators classify the service.

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Denmark could enact its ban by mid‑2026 and Austria expects draft legislation by June; Australia’s A$49.5 million maximum penalty is already in force for platforms that fail to stop under‑16s using specified networks.

This article was created with AI assistance.