Social media age verification laws by country

Multiple countries have passed laws to require age verification for social media services as an attempt to address certain harms on social media. The passage of such laws began primarily after Australia's social media ban for under-16-year-olds was passed in November 2024, and came into force on 10 December 2025. The ban began in the United States at the state level after Utah passed the Utah Social Media Regulation Act in March 2023.^[1][2][3][4] These bills and laws vary a lot with some of them restricting access only to certain features or distinguish between different users online and which could lead to companies requiring age verification to have such restrictions such as the Kids Online Safety Act or require it outright and ban users under a certain age such as the Online Safety Amendment in Australia which bans anyone under 16 from holding a social media account including YouTube.^[5][6]

In May 2025, the Communication Authority of Kenya published guidelines on online safety for children. One of the requirements for these guidelines was to require Application Service Providers (ASP) and Content Service Providers (CSP) to have age verification to restrict harmful content. Alongside this, the Kenya Parliament introduced the Kenya Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2025 which requires age verification for social media services such as Facebook and WhatsApp. However, as of August 2025 the bill proposed by the Parliament hasn't passed and the status of the guidelines by the Communications Authority remain unclear.^[7][8]

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority published a directive for the deployment of child online protection measures.^[9]

In 2025, the ZEP Foundation petitioned the Supreme Court of India for social media regulation. The court denied the request to ban children under 13 from social media saying it was something for the parliament to do and not the courts, however granted the foundations request to propose to the Central Government to require age verification for social media and prohibit usage for those under 16 or 18 years old and set an 8-week deadline, however as of September 2025 no laws have passed that resemble what the petition requested in India.^[10][11][12]

Since January 2025, the Indonesian Government has been looking into the idea of setting a minimum age to use social media as well as other protections that would be similar to Australia's, however, hasn't set a minimum age yet for social media and this proposal has been supported by the public been meant with caution.^[13][14][15]

In November 2025, the Malaysian Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil announced that starting 1 January 2026, all social media platforms would have to ban all users under 16 years of age and implement age verification via eKYC, saying this was in line with the country's Online Safety Act which was enacted in 2025 and takes effect the same day the ban does.^[16][17][18]

In July 2025, a bill was introduced in the Pakistan Senate that would ban social media for minors under 16 and that platforms must implement age verification that are affected by the bill, however unlike other bills that have been either introduced or passed in countries like Australia were the penalties only apply to platforms. The Pakistan version of the under 16 ban also imprisons anyone who makes a social media account for a minor for up to 6 months. The bill however was later withdrawn in August 2025 after controversy; however, the Pakistani Government is still looking to implement a lower age limit of 13 or 14 for social media access and removing the 6 months imprisonment penalty.^{[19][20][21][22]}

In July 2025, a bill was introduced in the Senate of the Philippines that would ban social media for minors under 18 by Ping Lacson. Minors with verified parents or guardian consent, limited from 13 to 17 years old by Erwin Tulfo, and the platforms must implement age verification that affects by the bill.^[23][24]

On 26 November 2025, the EU Parliament voted on a non-legislative report by a vote of 483-92-86. The report would set a minimum age of 16 for social media, while allowing those aged 13 - 15 with parental consent. The report also bans things such as infinite scrolling, auto-play and would protect minors from commercial exploration. It would also prohibit access to services that don't comply with the law within the EU.^[25][26][27]

On 7 October 2025, the Danish prime minister announced that the government was looking into banning social media for minors under 15, but have stated that they will likely include an exemption for those aged 13 or 14 with parental consent. The government plans to implement this policy as early as 2026.^{[28][29][30][31][32]} On 7 November 2025, Denmark's government announced an agreement to ban access to social media for anyone under 15 years of age, one of the strongest steps by a European Union government. How the ban would be enforced was not shared, but may rely on Denmark's national electronic ID system.^[33]

On 29 June 2023, France passed a law which would require parental consent for anyone under 15 to use social media, however the bill passed without a clear effective date, stating that they would apply it as soon as possible. If the bill does go into effect, then companies would be fined up to one percent of their revenue if they do not comply with the law.^[34][35][36] Since this law has passed the President of France Emmanuel Macron has said he could look into a complete ban for anyone under 15 to use social media.^[37][38]

In January 2026, the French National Assembly approved a government-backed bill banning the use of social media by children under the age of 15. The legislation, supported by President Emmanuel Macron’s administration, was adopted by 116 votes to 23 and aims to protect minors’ mental health by mitigating risks such as online harassment and psychological harm. The law requires social media platforms to implement age-verification mechanisms, while allowing exemptions for educational resources such as online encyclopedias.^{[39][40][41][42][43]} This proposed legislation is championed by President Emmanuel Macron and will be heading to the Senate, where it is widely expected to pass with broad cross-party support.^[44]

In Late 2024, the Norwegian Government announced it was setting a minimum age of 15 for social media and would require age verification to access social networks.^[2][45] In June 2025, the Government would introduce the bill to set the age limit for consultation and the deadline for this consultation is 7 October 2025.^[46][47]

The Online Safety Act 2023 requires providers of "user-to-user" services (which includes many popular social media services) prevent access by children of content deemed harmful, including but not limited to pornographic content. To do this, platforms including Reddit^[48] and Bluesky^[49] have implemented age verification for UK users.

In February 2026, Spain announced plans to ban access to social media platforms for users under the age of 16. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who stated that the government intends to require social media companies to implement mandatory age-verification systems. According to Sánchez, the proposed measure aims to protect children and adolescents from potential harms in the digital environment, which he described as a “digital wild west.” The policy forms part of broader efforts to strengthen online safety regulations for minors and increase platform accountability.^{[50][51][52][53]}

Since 2022, multiple members of congress have introduced bills that would either require age verification for social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram, or heavily lean towards it even if it doesn't require it outright.

The Kids Online Safety Act, also known as KOSA, is a bill in United States Congress that requires online platforms, not just social media companies, that are likely to be used by children to reduce addiction and online harms to them though a duty of care; however, the bill has been criticized by multiple civil rights groups such the ACLU and EFF for potentially leading to online censorship on services using age verification.^{[54][55][56][57]}

The Kids Off Social Media Act is a bill that was introduced originally in April 2024, but died before advancing. It was later reintroduced in January 2025 and advanced out of committee in February 2025; as of June 2025, the bill has been placed on the general calendar, meaning it can be taken up for a vote at any time. The bill bans anyone under 13 from having a social media account and bans certain algorithmic recommendations for anyone under 17; those opposed to it such as the ACLU and Centers for Democracy and Technology have warned that the bill could lead to social media platforms it affects into doing age verification.^{[58][59][60][61][62]}

In April 2023, the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act was introduced, and it, just like the Kids Off Social Media Act, bans social media services for children under 13, and also bans algorithmic recommendations, but instead of banning them for those under 17, it bans it for all minors under 18 and requires parental consent to use social media if the person creating the account is 13–17 years old. The bill was opposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation because the age verification part of bill would invade privacy rights and would make it easier for the government to identify people and that the parental consent provision could be problematic for older minors; the bill has since died and hasn't been reintroduced.^[63][64][65]

Since 2022, multiple states have passed laws requiring age verification for social media services such as California, Utah and Florida; however, very few have taken effect due to legal challenges against them. The only three exceptions to this are Tennessee, Mississippi and Florida.^{[66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74]} The law in Tennessee took effect after a Federal Judge denied a request to block the law in June 2025, and Mississippi's law HB 1126 was originally blocked from taking effect; however, in July 2025, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the order blocking the law; this then led to the ones challenging the law NetChoice to ask the U.S Supreme Court to block the law again which it denied in August of 2025. What has resulted from this is that Nextdoor has banned anyone under 18 from making an account on their service in Tennessee, and Bluesky has blocked Mississippi users entirely.^{[75][76][77][78][79]} So far over 14 states have passed laws like this and over 32 have introduced them, the only states that haven't introduced nor passed one are North Dakota, and Delaware. So far five states have rejected bills that propose age verification for social media them being Colorado, Montana, Maine, Wyoming and New Hampshire.

The list below is of bills that propose to require age verification to use social media platforms but were rejected this list include bills that were intentionally rejected either by being vetoed by the governor and that veto not being overturned or voted down in the state's legislature, not bills that died because they expired in the legislative session.

In May 2025, a committee of Quebec Legislative members recommended that social media be banned for those under 14 without parental consent, however, it is unclear if they plan on introduces legislation to implement this policy.^[176][177] Liberals in Nova Scotia has also said they plan on introducing a bill to ban anyone under 16 from social media.^[178]

In September 2025, Brazil passed a law that would require social media companies to implement age verification and link accounts under 16 with their parents and only allow children access to content that is intended for them, the law also requires parental consent to download apps for minors aged between 12 and 18 years old and bans lootboxes in video games similar to Belgium that did by 2018. If platforms don't comply they can be fined up to 50 million reais. The law is expected to take effect in March 2026.^[179][180]

In November 2024, Australia's federal parliament passed the Online Safety Amendment, which requires social media companies such as Facebook, Snapchat, TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) to take reasonable steps to prohibit minors under the age of 16 from owning accounts. YouTube was originally excluded, however was later included, and it's also unclear on how age verification will be done under the ban, as a trial for age verification found there were no barriers in implementing age verification. However, the eSafety Commissioner said in the most recent report that age verification isn't required and that the law would take effect in steps. Companies that don't comply can be fined up to $50 million AUD and is enforced by the eSafety Commissioner. The ban came into effect on 10 December 2025.^{[1][181][182][183]}

In October 2025, the government of Papua New Guinea approved its 2025 social media policy which including's a plan to require users in Papua New Guinea to verify their age to prove they are 14 years old or older to access social media platforms such as TikTok or Instagram, the age verification is done via SevisPass digital ID. Platforms must also set up locations in the country and be closely monitored for supposed harmful content. The Government claims the reason for the policy is crackdown on fake news and scams, however the policy has been criticized for potentially limiting free speech.^{[184][185][186]}

In inspiration of Australia's Online Safety Amendment, the Nationals Party of New Zealand along with the Prime Minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon introduced the Social Media (Age-Restricted Users) Bill in May 2025, which just like its Australian counterpart bans social media accounts for children under 16, however unlike its counterpart its fines aren't so large with the maximum fine that can be imposed being 2 million NZD (1.2 million USD).^{[187][188][189]}

• Parental controls