Teenage social media bans receive global backlash

Lawmakers around the world are increasingly introducing proposals to restrict minors from accessing social media. Countries that have moved to legislate for a ban include Spain, Greece, Australia, Brazil, Rwanda, and Vietnam. However, eight months following Australia's under-16 ban, growing stakeholder criticism highlights doubts regarding the efficacy, enforceability, and free speech implications of blanket restrictions.

As a consequence, international approaches are moving towards platform liability and targeting addictive features rather than enforcing complete bans. In the US, state attorneys general have filed substantial lawsuits against major platforms, with courts ordering multimillion-dollar penalties (here and here) against Meta for child endangerment. However, deciding against a ban, California pared back its proposed restrictions for teenagers and will now instead require platforms to deactivate addictive mechanisms for young users.

In Europe, the European Commission has ordered TikTok and Meta to alter the design of their services under the Digital Services Act (DSA). Meanwhile, observers suggest that the UK, despite Prime Minister Andy Burnham supporting access limits, may bypass blanket bans and instead mirror Canada's proposed model, which would require platforms to implement adequate safeguards. 

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