Why Social Media Bans for Kids Are Turning Into a Global Policy Wave
For a long time, the politics of child safety online stayed comfortably vague. Governments issued warnings, schools promoted media literacy, and platforms promised better tools. But the underlying assumption remained the same: parents were supposed to manage the problem at home. That assumption is now breaking. On April 9, 2026, Greece unveiled plans for a total social media ban for children 15 and under, with enforcement aimed at the platforms themselves. According to AP, the proposal would require companies to reverify users’ ages and could expose them to penalties that reach as high as 6% of global turnover for noncompliance. A month earlier, on March 6, 2026, Indonesia said it would ban social media accounts for children under 16 on high-risk platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, X, Roblox, and others, with implementation beginning on March 28. The important shift is not just that more countries are restricting minors’ access. It is that regulator...