Many countries are still weighing ways to reduce social media's negative impact on children. The largest test case so far — Australia's under-16 social media ban — has now run six months, and the results do not point where supporters hoped.
The latest status report from Australia's eSafety Commission lands on three findings.
The third finding is the one that matters. The stated purpose of the policy has not produced measurable evidence of success. Worse, bans may push teens toward less safe corners of the internet rather than off their phones and into the real world.
The current wave traces to a 2021 Wall Street Journal report based on leaked internal Meta documents, alleging the company's own research found Instagram harmful to teenage girls and that Meta prioritized usage time and profit over acting on it.
The report triggered a major U.S. investigation, and in 2024 Mark Zuckerberg appeared before a Senate online child safety hearing, where he apologized to parents of teens harmed on Instagram. Analysis from social psychologist Jonathan Haidt further amplified concerns about teen mental health.
Meta has responded that most accusations oversimplify the process and that mental health professionals are divided on the effects of social media. The company is currently fighting a wave of mental-health lawsuits, arguing that social media addiction is not a recognized medical condition and therefore cannot ground liability. If addiction is recognized as diagnosable, exposure could run to billions in compensatory claims.
Regulation is already reshaping media plans. Per eMarketer, brands are planning to cut digital ad spend in response to any U.K. teen ban. In France, the push for teen restrictions faces a significant legal challenge centered on freedom of expression for younger users, according to Reuters.
Similar modeling appears in A School Phone Ban Would Cost TikTok $1.26B in Ad Revenue — and Snap 6%.
New Mexico Chief District Court Judge Bryan Biedscheid ordered Meta to pay $567 million and laid out a multi-step approach the company must implement in the state.
This puts parameters around usage rather than cutting access entirely.
Meta continues to argue app stores are a better arbitrator of user age, holding more control in the access chain and reducing inconsistency between per-platform approaches while providing a stronger age signal from store profiles.
Under discussion in the EU: a digital ID requirement for all social media users, including teens, tightening access restrictions at the identity layer.
For what happens when a platform actually enforces age detection at scale, see Meta Actioned 750,000 Underage Accounts in Australia — AI Age Detection at Scale.
By the eSafety Commission's own status report it has not met its goals. Most teens circumvented it, platforms did not implement adequate restrictions, and there was no demonstrable change in young users' wellbeing or in behaviors linked to problematic online use.
Usage parameters, as in the New Mexico court order against Meta: default-private profiles for under-18s, no push notifications overnight and during school hours, hidden like counts, and a 90-hour monthly usage cap. Moving age verification to app stores and EU-style digital ID requirements are also under discussion.
eMarketer reports brands plan to cut digital ad spend in response to a U.K. teen ban. Spend reductions get priced in before enforcement is even confirmed, which makes regulatory uncertainty a budget variable in its own right.
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