Europe Watches Australia's Youth Social Media Ban Results

Australia made global headlines when it became the first country to ban social media for kids under 16 last December, and now leaders from Germany to Spain are watching closely. Within weeks, social media companies removed 4.7 million accounts belonging to underage users, a number that caught attention worldwide.

But those headline numbers don't tell the complete story. Researchers in Australia report that many 13 to 15 year olds simply created new accounts by claiming to be older, while others got blocked from some platforms but not others.

The age verification technology itself has proven less accurate than hoped. Selfies and other tools designed to catch underage users have shown the same limitations experts predicted before the ban launched.

Despite these early hiccups, Norway, Greece, the UK, Denmark, Italy, and the Netherlands are all discussing their own versions of youth social media bans. Countries outside Europe, including India and Malaysia, have also expressed interest.

Susan Sawyer from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute admits she's surprised by how quickly other countries want to copy Australia's approach. "We don't know what the effects of the ban are going to be and we need to evaluate this carefully," she told reporters.

Internet studies professor Tama Leaver agrees that rushing similar legislation would be a mistake. He points out that any measurable cultural change will take years, not months, to materialize.

One group caught in the middle are 13 to 15 year olds who already had social media accounts before the ban. They lost access to platforms they'd been using, only to regain it when they turn 16.

The Bright Side

The conversation itself represents progress. Leaders across Europe are finally acknowledging that children's emotional wellbeing matters more than corporate profits from engagement algorithms.

Research shows that 10 to 13 year olds, especially girls, experience the most adverse effects from social media use. As today's six to 10 year olds grow up under new norms, they'll likely get smartphones and social media access later than previous generations did.

The change won't happen overnight, but parents and policymakers are finally working together to protect childhood. Australia's experiment, imperfect as it may be, has sparked a global conversation about putting kids' mental health first.

Other countries now have a real world example to learn from before implementing their own rules.