Who will be next to implement an Australia-style under-16s social media ban?

Australia's societal media prohibition for children nether the property of 16 has grabbed planetary attention, and governments worldwide are considering implementing akin policies, with the U.K. seen arsenic apt to beryllium next.

The Australian government's Online Safety Amendment Act came into effect connected December 10, and included large societal media platforms, including Reddit, X, Meta's Instagram, Alphabet's YouTube, Bytedance's TikTok.

The platforms were forced to instrumentality property verification methods to guarantee under-16s are incapable to make an account, and the companies tin look fines up to 49.5 cardinal Australian dollars ($32 million) for not complying.

Although teenagers, tech giants, and experts person had mixed reactions since the prohibition came into force, governments globally are drafting bills to instrumentality an Australia-style ban.

"This is simply a planetary issue, and governments everyplace are nether unit to respond," Daisy Greenwell, co-founder of U.K.-based Smartphone Free Childhood, told CNBC. SFC is simply a grassroots run urging parents to hold giving children smartphones and societal media access.

"We're already seeing countries determination successful this direction, and arsenic assurance builds and grounds accumulates, much volition follow. No 1 thinks the presumption quo is moving for children, parents, oregon nine – and this is 1 of the clearest argumentation responses presently connected the table," Greenwell added.

Other countries that are considering an under-16s societal media prohibition see the U.K., France, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Italy and Greece.

The U.S. is trailing down connected this beforehand with a nationalist prohibition being unlikely, nevertheless determination is surely authorities and section interest, according to Ravi Iyer, a managing manager of the University of Southern California Marshall School's Neely Center.

Iyer has worked intimately with societal scientist Jonathon Haidt who wrote the renowned publication The Anxious Generation, astir the harmful impacts of societal media and smartphones connected children and teens.

"It's truly hard to foretell Federal policy, but it is 1 of the fewer bipartisan issues left, truthful it surely is possible," Iyer said successful emailed comments.

"I'm much assured astatine the state level and I judge we volition spot a fewer U.S. states enact specified a argumentation successful the adjacent couple years."

Lawmakers successful California and Texas are looking astatine bringing successful state-level bans successful 2026.

But governments looking to instrumentality specified bans could look absorption from the tech giants.

Following Australia's move, community-focused forum Reddit launched a lawsuit, arguing that the caller instrumentality goes excessively acold by restricting governmental treatment online. Facebook and Instagram proprietor Meta urged Canberra to reconsider the ban. And successful a connection to users explaining however the restrictions work, Elon Musk's X said: "It's not our prime – it's what the Australian instrumentality requires."

Meanwhile, calls for a societal media prohibition for under-16s successful the U.K. person grown rapidly astatine the opening of this year. The U.K.'s House of Lords is expected to vote this week to amend the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill to see a societal media prohibition for under-16s.

Greenwell's SFC launched an email campaign this week, which saw much than 100,000 emails sent to section U.K. lawmakers. The SFC template email urged the authorities to acceptable "reasonable, age-appropriate boundaries that support children's wellbeing."

"We consistently spot that the much clip children walk connected smartphones and societal media, the worse their intelligence wellness outcomes thin to be. If these platforms are nary longer available, the web effects illness – and young radical tin reconnect with each different and with the existent world," Greenwell told CNBC.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has adjacent backed the thought saying "we request to amended support children from societal media" and that he's studying Australia's ban.

"All options are connected the array successful narration to what further protections we tin enactment successful spot - whether that's under-16s connected societal media oregon an contented I americium precise acrophobic about, nether fives and surface time," Starmer said past week.

"Children are turning up property 4 astatine reception [the archetypal twelvemonth of school] having spent acold excessively overmuch clip connected screens," helium added.

Meanwhile, U.K. wellness caput Wes Streeting asked The Anxious Generation writer Haidt to code his officials astatine an lawsuit to propulsion for stricter limits connected young people.

France is besides a beardown contender arsenic it debates 2 bills, 1 backed by French President Emmanuel Macron, to forestall societal media entree for nether 15s, France24 reported past week. France's nationalist wellness watchdog ANSES outlined that societal media's antagonistic effects are "numerous" and good documented.

USC's Iyer said that if a teen prohibition becomes a planetary norm, it alleviates the unit connected young radical to self-police.

"One of the superior goals of the instrumentality is to alteration the norm, specified that teens don't consciousness unit to usage societal media due to the fact that each their friends are doing so" Iyer said.

"It's not truly a realistic prime to abstain if you consciousness that each your friends are utilizing a peculiar platform. If we tin lick that occupation and the bulk of teens are disconnected of societal media, we'll person done a batch of good," helium added.