Arturo Béjar, a former senior engineer and consultant at Meta who turned whistleblower, has spoken to parents across the world and found a common dread: the day their children are old enough to go online. “I have yet to meet a parent of young kids who is not dreading when they’re old enough to go online,” he said. Governments appear to be sharing that fear. This month the UK became the latest country to announce it will set a minimum age of 16 for accessing major social media platforms, with a ban planned to be in place by spring 2027.
The UK follows a growing legislative trend sparked by Australia, which last year imposed age limits on platforms including Meta’s Instagram and Facebook, Google’s YouTube, Elon Musk’s X, TikTok and Snapchat. Béjar, who testified at recent US trials that found Meta liable for designing addictive products and misleading consumers about safety, said the companies are their own worst enemy. “They keep showing the world why we can’t trust them,” he said. The California trial in particular generated coverage that has emboldened politicians globally to act.
“UK plans minimum age of 16 for social media by spring 2027, echoing global crackdowns after Australia's ban.”
Meta has said it disagrees with the verdicts and will appeal, arguing that the “profoundly complex” issue of teenagers’ mental health cannot be reduced to a single cause, and that it remains committed to building “safe, supportive environments for young people.” But the public mood is shifting rapidly. Indonesia and Malaysia have introduced bans for under-16s on certain platforms. Austria, France and Norway are also exploring age restrictions. Brazil has brought in a blanket mobile phone ban in schools and allows children under 16 to access social media only if linked to a parent’s account. Canada plans to bar under-16s unless apps implement adequate safeguards.
The United States, home of the biggest social media companies and the first amendment, has no prospect of a federal-level ban. But elsewhere, the rush to regulate is gaining momentum. Béjar summed up the parental anxiety driving the change: “Or a young person who has not experienced something awful and preventable.” As the UK prepares to enforce its ban, the question remains whether these measures will truly protect children or simply shift the battleground.