Online age verification laws by country

Online age verification laws by country

Since the passage of the Online Safety Act 2023 in the United Kingdom and the publication of The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt in 2024, which became the catalyst for Australia's social media ban, many countries across the globe have passed or proposed laws to require age verification for parts of the internet including social networks, social media services, devices, and other digital services with the intention of protecting young people from harmful and illegal content. Such laws began primarily after Australia's social media ban for under-16-year-olds which was passed on 28 November 2024 and came into force on 10 December 2025. Legislation regarding social media age verification began in the United States at the state level after Utah passed the Utah Social Media Regulation Act in March 2023. It was challenged due to First Amendment concerns and has not been taken into effect. These bills and laws vary greatly, with some of them restricting access only to certain features or distinguishing between different users online, which could lead to companies requiring age verification to comply with such restrictions as the Kids Online Safety Act, or banning users under a certain age, which is the approach of the Online Safety Amendment in Australia which fully prohibits anyone under 16 years old from holding social media accounts. A few nations, such as Pakistan punish those who allow minors to access these services.

These laws, which claimed to be for "protecting kids", have received criticism from the general public, as well as organizations that focus on digital and civil rights (such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access Now and American Civil Liberties Union in the United States) for normalizing surveillance and restricting freedom of speech through the elimination of anonymous accounts. The New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties, UNICEF, and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights have also opposed such laws on the bases that they constitute violations of the rights to freedom of speech and privacy, that such laws may backfire, and that there are better ways of protecting children online.

These laws can also be bypassed by loopholes, such as VPNs, which have seen a significant amount of new and existing users in countries where such laws are enforced. While these laws typically only apply in their respective countries, some online platforms made their age verification policies global, such as Roblox and Discord, which require age verification for certain features to close said loopholes to avoid receiving a lawsuit.

Opponents claim that this is the newest form of censorship on the internet after many countries, mostly outside the Western world, had blocked or throttled online platforms, or use national intranet like the Great Firewall in China, shut down internet access, and restricted VPN usage.

Before Australia passed its social media ban, attempts to make online censorship global such as the EU's UploadFilter, which passed in March 2019, or planning to repeal Section 230 failed due to free speech concerns along with large protests and outcry.

Social Media Age Restriction Laws

Many of the laws regarding social media age verification revolve around setting a minimum age to have an account on social media platforms, with the youngest proposed minimum age set at 12 by Trinidad and Tobago (cf. the minimum age of the COPPA law from the United States, which is 13) and the oldest being 18 set by Zimbabwe. Neither of these examples give an exception with parental consent, with most countries (such as Turkey, France and Greece) setting the minimum age at either 15 or (in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Spain) at 16. Some of the proposed or passed laws that set a minimum age for social media allow exceptions with parental consent, such as those passed in Brazil, (set minimum age of 16 with parental consent exception), Denmark (set minimum age of 15, parental consent from 13), Portugal and the European Union (set minimum age of 16 with parental consent from 13).

Laws in effect

Australia

Main article: Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024

In November 2024, Australia's federal parliament passed the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act, 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 companies that do not 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. Australia then became the first country in the world to ban social media, banning platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitch, Kick and Threads for individuals under 16. This meant that anyone over 16 must verify their age using methods such as facial scan or ID in order to create, log or continue using accounts by 10 December 2025.

On 9 March 2026, Australia became the second country in the world to enforce age verification on social networks such as adult sites, search engines, online platforms like X that are allowing harmful content such as NSFW, online chats from Xbox, PlayStation and even on games such as GTA. Apps rated 18+ and AI Chatbots that allow explicit material also became affected by this enforced age verification.

In March 2026, over 310,000 accounts who are reportedly owned by children under 16 have been deactivated and blocked by the age filters.

Brazil

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 underaged individuals aged between 12 and 18 years old and bans lootboxes in video games similar to a law enacted in Belgium in 2018. If platforms do not comply, they can be fined up to 50 million BRL. The law came into effect on March 17, 2026, resulting in Brazil becoming the second country overall, and the first non-English speaking and Latin American country to ban social media and all online platforms and social networking services for individuals under 16 without parental consent, and forces them to verify their age through ID or facial scans. It also became the third country in the world to enforce age verification on social networks such as adult sites, search engines, online platforms like X allowing harmful content such as NSFW, online chats from Xbox, PlayStation and even on games such as GTA and mobile apps rated 18+. Due to the law banning lootboxes for those under 18, many video games such as Roblox, Minion Rush, Mario Kart Tour, EA Sports FC, Counter Strike, Genshin Impact, Fortnite and more have restricted in-app purchases or even entire games for non-verified users.

China

Main article: Internet real-name system in China

China already has its own strict internet censorship, such as the Great Firewall that blocks certain foreign websites, as well as laws mandating ID and real name verification. These laws must be followed in order to create accounts on platforms such as Bilibili, Douyin, and Kuaishou. Since 2 August 2023, China adopted Minor Mode, which cuts off internet access for individuals under 18 between 22:00 and 6:00. Time limits include up to 40 minutes for those under 8, 1 hour for those aged 8-15, and 2 hours maximum for 16-17 year olds per day. Minor Mode came into force by January 2024. Since September 2021, those under 18 will only be allowed to play online games only on weekends and legal holidays between 20:00 to 21:00.

Indonesia

During 2025, the Indonesian Government had 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. This proposal had been met with support and caution by the public.

On 28 March 2026, Indonesia banned social media for children under the age of 16, becoming the first non-Western, Asian and Muslim country and the third country in the world to enforce a social media ban. Platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Roblox and Bigo Live were the first to be banned with measures similar to Australia. Enforcement and account deactivation will be rolled out gradually, affecting all accounts that are reported to be under 16.

Malaysia

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 took effect the same day the ban does. The effective date was later changed to 1 June 2026 from 1 January 2026. Malaysia then became the second Asian and Muslim country, and fourth country in the world to ban social media and online platforms that have more than 8 million users for individuals under 16 on 1 June 2026, with measures also similar to Australia. Targeted platforms with over 8 million users included platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.

United Kingdom

Main articles: Online Safety Act 2023 and Online age verification in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom became the first country in the world on July 25, 2025 to enforce age verification under the Online Safety Act 2023, which although does not set an age limit for social media, requires providers of "user-to-user" services (which includes many popular social media services) to prevent access by children of content deemed harmful, including but not limited to pornographic content. Platforms including Reddit and Bluesky have implemented age verification for UK users as a result.

On June 17, 2026, Keir Starmer announced that the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 has passed, which puts a ban on children under 16 having accounts on social media apps such as Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube effective from spring 2027.

Effect on platforms

Roblox

See also: Child safety on Roblox

Despite many lawsuits in recent years for failing to protect children from predators online as well as moderation failure, leading to quite a few countries imposing restrictions or outright banning the platform, such as Turkey in August 2024. Roblox has recently added a plethora of safety features, but countries are still continuing their investigations. On 19 November 2025, Roblox announced that they would be requiring users to verify their age to be able to use the chat in-game. This system places users into age groups, and players can only chat with people in neighboring age groups. Roblox's age verification is done by scanning a user's face to estimate their age, or having them upload a picture of their ID. Both methods are done with Persona.

In June 2026, the platform will introduce more age-based restrictions by dividing user accounts into different tiers: Roblox Kids, which is assigned to users under the age of 9, Roblox Select, which is assigned to users age 9 to 15, and standard Roblox which is assigned to users 16 and above. If a user does not verify their age, they are restricted to only playing games with an age rating of 9+ or lower. It was also recently announced that, along with a number of other restrictions, age verification will be required to publish a game on the platform.

Citing high risk, Indonesia restricted the platform for users under 16 under its social media ban on 28 March 2026, and Brazil restricted the platform for users under 16 on 17 March 2026. Formerly, Brazil restricted the platform to users under 18 due to the country's ban on lootboxes for users under 18, however after the platform announced they would regulate lootboxes, Brazil lowered the limit to 16.

Discord

Despite many lawsuits in recent years for failing to protect children from predators online as well as moderation failure, since early 2024, Discord began to blur out sensitive and harmful content. If anyone wants to unblur, they can click the eye icon to reveal said blurred content. However, since July 2025, Discord had locked the aforementioned sensitive and harmful content, including NSFW material, behind age verification via ID for those residing in the UK to comply with the Online Safety Act 2023. This age verification measure then rolled out in Australia by 10 December 2025, then in Brazil by 17 March 2026, which included a ban for individuals under 16 without parental consent. In late 2025, Discord had expanded age verification to include DMs from people who are not on one's friends list, which are automatically locked and sent to a separate "Message Requests" folder, of which this restriction cannot be disabled or moved to the main inbox without age verification and are restricted from speaking on Stage Channels in public servers without age verification.

In February 2026, Discord announced its teen safety protections, which would be rolled out to its user base worldwide. These protections make it impossible to bypass using bypassing mechanisms such as VPNs and will include YouTube style AI Age detection to flag any behaviour as "teen-appropriate", similar to Instagram. Originally, these protections were supposed to come into force by March , but due to backlash over recent leaks of 70,000 user ID photos that happened in September 2025, it was delayed to the second half of 2026.

Africa

Egypt

In January 2026, Egypt's parliament debated legislation discussing children's use of social media. On 25 January 2026, the House of Representatives announced their intent to introduce legislation regulating children's use of social media networks. Prior to that, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi had appeared on television urging lawmakers to restrict children's use of social media "until they reach an age when they can handle it properly." As of June 2026, no law has yet been introduced.

Gabon

On 8 April 2026, Gabon published an ordinance regulating social media platforms among the requirements would be that social media platforms would have to implement age verification and set a digital age of majority of 16 and platforms could only allow minors under 16 to have an account with parental consent. The age verification process, unlike that of many other countries, would require any person who wants to join a platform to provide their name, address, and personal identification number; this goes further than the requirements of other countries, which only require obtaining the verified age of a person.

Gabon's High Authority for Communication has already temporally fully blocked social media in February 2026 due to false information, cyberbullying and data collection practices.

Kenya

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 has not passed and the status of the guidelines by the Communications Authority remain unclear.

Kenyan members of parliament have ruled out a ban on TikTok on 17 February 2026, due to the platform providing communication, creativity, and entrepreneurship among youth. The proposed ban also infringed on fundamental rights, specifically the freedom of speech, and stifled economic growth. This led to the country resorting to regulate the app instead, with two of its ministers expecting to report to the House on how to strengthen age verification, as well as data localization and media literacy on privacy and responsible use of social media.

Mauritius

In September 2025, the Minister of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation, Avinash RamtohulI stated that they were trying to foster a healthy and favourable digital environment for young people.” On 12 December 2025, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority published a directive for the deployment of child online protection measures.

Nigeria

On 10 March 2026, Bosun Tijani, who is the head of the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy announced a public consultation on possible restrictions on social media to help strengthen child safety with the possibility that the Nigerian Government considers strengthening age verification for social media platforms or sets a minimum age on them, however as of May 2026, no minimum age or age verification requirement has been set and is still in the consideration phase with the government stating they will rely on evidence based policies.

Rwanda

On 29 April 2026, the Minister of Information Communications Technology and Innovation, Paula Ingabire, said that “relevant institutions” within the Rwandan government are working together on drafting a proposed law that will forbid children under 16 from using social media. Authorities said that the law is part of a greater initiative to create a safer environment for Rwandan children.

Zimbabwe

On 8 March 2026, The Zimbabwe Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services, Tatenda Mavetera, announced that the country would look into a ban on the access of social media platforms for minors under 18 years of age as the country considers regulating social media platforms. The proposal was criticized as Zimbabwe has already existing online safety laws such as the Zimbabwe Data Protection Act and that enforcing them would be better than blanket under-18 bans.

Asia

Bahrain

Since January 2026, Bahrain has been considering prohibiting social media accounts for users younger than 15 within the country and would require platforms to put certain safeguards for children between 15 - 17 years old to help limit exposure to harmful content. The draft law is an amendment to the Child Law No 37 of 2012 in Bahrain.

India

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, the foundation’s 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 was granted and given an 8-week deadline, however as of September 2025, no laws have passed that resemble what the petition requested in India.

Japan

In June 2026, an advisory panel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications proposed a draft set of measures that would limit the access of underaged persons to social networking services. These measures called for stricter age verification laws, but also rejected the enactment of a unified age verification law similar to Australia’s, which was referred to as “undesirable”.

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan is considering a social media ban for minors under 16 years of age similar to Australia's. However, this proposed law does not have a set effective date of when it will take effect.

Mongolia

In February 2026, the Mongolian Minister of Education, Purevsuren Naranbayar, was reportedly working on a draft law that would ban children under 16 years of age from using what was defined as age restricted social media platforms similar to Australia's law. Before the introduction of the draft law in Mongolia in 2025, a group led by his advisor were studying similar social media restriction laws that were enacted in other countries, which included various European countries.

Pakistan

In July 2025, a bill was introduced in the Pakistan Senate that would ban social media for minors under 16 and that platforms that are affected by the bill must implement age verification. However, unlike other bills that have been either introduced or passed in countries such as Australia, these penalties only apply to online platforms. The Pakistani version of this bill that bans underaged individuals under 16 also imprisons anyone who makes a social media account for these individuals 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.

Philippines

In the 20th Congress of the Philippines, a bill was introduced by Ping Lacson to ban social media for minors under 18 in July 2025, ban social media for minors under 16 by Imee Marcos in February 2026, Loren Legarda in March 2026, and Sherwin Gatchalian in April 2026, ban social media and other online platforms for minors under 15 by Joel Villanueva in April 2026, whilst allowing for minors aged 13 to 17 with verified parental or guardian consent by Erwin Tulfo in July 2025, another bill allowing for minors aged 12 to 17 with verified parental or guardian consent by Camille Villar in July 2025 in the Senate of the Philippines. A bill was also introduced to ban social media for minors under 16 by Eddie Villanueva in March 2026, independent account on social media for minors ban under age 13, aged 13 to 15 with a parental consent, and allow independent access for those aged 16 to 17, and requiring platforms to apply enhanced protection safety defaults by Roger Mercado in March 2026 in the House of Representatives of the Philippines. There were renewed calls to introduce social media ban for minors in the aftermath of the deadly 2026 Tacloban school shooting, and legislators also proposed mandatory age verification for "violent and mature-rated online games".

South Korea

South Korea has introduced seven bills related to social media age verification for social including prohibiting the use of social media for user children under 14, requiring parental consent for users under 16 and banning information based algorithms for users under 19. Kim Jong Cheol who is the President of the Korea Media and Communications Commission has stated that he supports placing age restrictions on social media platforms, however South Korea is more considering softer and graduated restrictions then a ban on social media accounts under a certain age due to the country's failure with a previous shutdown law that prohibited minors under 16 from playing video games at night.

Tajikistan

In October 2025, lawmaker and member of parliament Dilnoza Ahmadzoda proposed a law that would ban children under 14 from gaining access to social media, as well as requiring written parental consent for children aged 14-17. She noted that recent amendments to the Law on the Protection of Children’s Rights, which focused on cracking down on harmful content, were insufficient, and that a ban was necessary.

Türkiye

Türkiye's Grand National Assembly along with the country's president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been discussing a draft law that would have social media banned for minors under 15 and provide parental controls to minors who are 15 -17 as well as to have social media platforms implement age and identity verification to prevent minors under 15 from becoming users of social media, along with this the draft law proposes making it easier to remove problematic content and implement measures to make bypassing the restrictions with a VPN harder. The draft law has already been accepted by the commission and now must pass the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye and be published in the Official Gazette of Türkiye in which it will take effect 6 months after publication. The law was passed by the Turkish parliament in April 2026.

United Arab Emirates

On 18 June 2026, UAE announced that they will ban social media for children under 15. This ban is expected to come into force by mid-2027. Any online platforms who fail to comply within 12 months will face heavy daily fines, throttling or being blocked in the country.

Europe

European Union

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 exploitation. It would also prohibit access to services that do not comply with the law within the EU.

Austria

In March 2026, Vice Chancellor of Austria Andreas Babler said that the country was considering a social media ban for users under 14 years of age saying that the ban would help prevent children from developing a social media addiction. The proposed ban will be drafted by the end of June 2026 and will include "technically modern methods" of age verification to prevent children under 14 from using social media platforms covered by the ban. Unlike other countries in the EU that have set an effective date for their social media ban such as September 2026 for France or January 2027 for Greece, there does not appear to be a set effective date yet for Austria's proposal.

Belgium

In April 2026, the Flemish Government announced that it was considering a social media ban for users under 13 years of age, some communities in Belgium have proposed an even higher minimum age of 15 or 16. The age verification method will likely be through a centralized age verification tool such as Itsme or MyGov.be, however this proposal has been controversial since the ban is not a competence issue for the federal or regional government but one for communities meaning that the ban would likely only apply to Dutch speaking communities and not French speaking ones.

Internet safety groups for Belgium such as Belgian Safer Internet Centre and Child Focus have stated that a social media ban is not likely to be very effective since the minimum age of 13 within the GDPR is already largely ignored and so increasing the age to 15 or 16 for social media use is not likely to be effective and that a better solution would be to increased media literacy and giving more tools and better resources to parents to protect their children and to make the internet safer.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

In December 2025, the President of the Party of Democratic Progress and the Mayor of Banja Luka, Draško Stanivuković, submitted the Resolution on the protection of children in the digital environment and the responsible use of social networks to the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. Stanivuković stated that the key message of the resolution is to limit the use of social media for children up to the age of 15.

Cyprus

In April 2026, The European Commission launched an age verification application to restrict the access of social media to underage persons in five European countries, with Cyprus being one of them. President Nikos Christodoulides announced that the minimum age for social media in the country will be 15, further stating that the proposal will be integrated into the national digital wallet application “Digital Citizen” within the same year.

Denmark

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. 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.

France

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. 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.

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. This proposed legislation was championed by President Emmanuel Macron and was passed by the Senate. The law takes effect September 2026.

Germany

Germany's upper House called for a ban on social media use for children under 14 and restrictions on the use of it for those under 16 with the Chancellor of Germany Friedrich Merz supporting the proposal. A social media ban in Germany could possibly face legal challenges as Germany's constitution gives parents the right to take care of the upbringing of their children.

Greece

On 8 April 2026, the government announced a ban on children under 15 years old from accessing social media effective in January 2027.

Netherlands

In 2026, the new Dutch Government (which is made up of the D66, VVD and CDA parties) was considering a social media ban for minors under 15 years of age within the country, however the proposal is still vague as all the government has said is that the ban would be enforced through privacy-friendly age verification and would remain for as long as social media is insufficiently secure without defining what exactly these mean. The former Dutch Government has opposed a social media ban stating that would be ineffective and would instead release guidance that social interaction platforms such as Instagram or TikTok should be avoided before 15 and that only messaging platforms such as WhatsApp or Signal be used if they are over 13.

Norway

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. 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.

Poland

In February 2026, the Minister of Education in Poland Barbara Nowacka has presented plans to ban social media use for children under 15 as well as ban use of mobile phones in primary schools which is currently up to individual schools. Companies that do not comply can face fines up to 6 percent of their annual revenue.

Portugal

On 12 February 2026 the Assembly of the Republic (Portugal) the legislative body of Portugal approved of a bill by a vote of 148-69 that would prohibit children under 13 from having social media accounts and require parental consent for those aged between 13 - 15 years old. Parental consent would be verified through a system known as the Digital Mobile Key (DMK) and the proposed bill would fine platforms if they are noncompliant up to 2 percent of their global revenue. The bill still needs a final vote to pass and become law.

Slovenia

In February 2026, Matej Arčon said that the Slovenian Minister of Education was preparing for a draft legislation for a social media ban to children under 15 within the country, citing platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram.

Spain

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.

North America

United States

Federal level

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 does not require it outright.

Kids Online Safety Act

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 through 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.

Kids Off Social Media Act

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 social media platforms into doing age verification via government ID to avoid liability.

Protecting Kids on Social Media Act

In April 2023, the Protecting Kids on Social Media Act was introduced, and it, 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 has not been reintroduced.

Current status of social media age verification laws at the state level

State level

For more info, see Social media age verification laws in the United States.

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 four exceptions to this are Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida and Ohio. 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 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. So far over 17 states have passed similar laws and over 32 have introduced them, the only states that have not introduced nor passed one are North Dakota and Delaware. So far eight states have rejected bills that propose age verification for social media them being Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Maine, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Washington, and Wyoming. One state, Vermont, had formally rejected a social media age verification bill which was rejected in June 2024, but then a year later in June 2025 passed one known as S. 69 which takes effect on January 1, 2027.

Social media age verification laws by state

State	Authority	Signed	Effective	Notes
California	Gavin Newsom	September 15, 2022 (AB 2273) September 20, 2024 (SB 976) March 2026 (AB 1043)	Both partly enjoined, January 1, 2027 (AB 1043)	On September 15, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 2273 into law, which requires websites which make over $25 million a year or have over 100,000 users and which are likely to be used by children to file Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIAs) to determine how safe their services are and require age estimation for all visitors. The law was later blocked by Federal Judge Beth Labson Freemen in September 2023 for violating the First Amendment. California appealed, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling on the DPIA section of the law and vacated the rest and returned to the Trial Court in August 2024. Judge Freemen blocked the law again completely in March 2025. California would appeal again and the Ninth Circuit would affirm most of the injunction except the provisions about age estimation. On September 20, 2024, Governor Newsom signed another law SB 976, which requires online services to not give anyone under 18 an addictive feed for more than an hour per day without parental consent and blocks notification between 12 am and 6 am and during school days between 8 am to 3 pm; those under 18 must also have default settings and social media companies must put out some disclosures. In December 2024, Federal Judge Edward Davila blocked the law's notifications provisions as well as the disclosures provisions, however, let the rest of the law take effect including the age verification provision. NetChoice, the ones challenging the law, asked the court to block it completely pending appeal. Judge Davila granted this request for 30 days, so that the Ninth Circuit could review the law pending appeal; the Ninth Circuit would later extend the injunction. There was a hearing on the law on April 2, 2025, and a decision remains pending from the Appellate court. On September 9, 2025, the three judge panel of the Appellate court ruled unanimously that NetChoice did not have standing to assert the rights of its users and that they did not have standing to challenge the provisions for addictive personalized feeds, and that the private mode for minors which allows only people the minor knows to view their post was constitutional, however ruled that not showing likes to minors without parental consent was unconstitutional. On October 13, 2025, Governor Newsom signed AB 1043, into law, which requires operating system providers to verify the age of users at device account setup and to transmit an age-bracket signal to application developers.
Utah	Spencer Cox	March 23, 2023	Preliminarily enjoined	On March 23, 2023, Governor Spencer Cox signed the Utah Social Media Regulation Act also known as SB 152 and HB 311. SB 152 requires social media companies with more than 5 million users to conduct age verification on all users and require parental consent for those under 18 years of age and cannot allow a minor on a social media platform between 10:30 pm – 6:30 am MST. HB 311 allows parents of minors who have been harmed by addiction from social media to sue and collect up to 250,000 dollars in damages with a rebuttable presumption that if the minor was under 16 that harm occurred was because of social media. In December 2023 the social media trade association NetChoice sued Utah over the law claiming that it violated the First Amendment. In response to this Utah amended its social media laws with SB 194 and HB 494 to avoid the law being deemed unconstitutional the governor signed these amendments in March 2024. The new laws removed the curfew of social media of 10:30 pm – 6:30 am and removed the provisions of it that required parental consent to open a social media account. However, youth accounts are still restricted from accessing certain features such as autoplay or direct messaging. However, this would not avoid the constitutional issues as the laws were declared unconstitutional by Chief Judge Robert Shelby on September 10, 2024, by granting NetChoice's request for a Preliminary Injunction basically blocking the laws enforcement pending any further legal proceedings against the law. On November 20, 2025, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals heard an appeal on the law before Chief Judge Jerome Holmes, and Judges Paul Joseph Kelly Jr. and Nancy Moritz.
Arkansas	Sarah Huckabee Sanders	April 11, 2023	Permanently enjoined	In April 2023, Arkansas passed SB 396 which requires certain social such as Facebook and Twitter media platforms to verify the age of users and require parental consent for those under 18. The law would have included websites such as YouTube, which later became exempt after lobbying. The law was blocked on August 31, 2023, by Judge Timothy L. Brooks. and would permanently block the law in March 2025.
Texas	Greg Abbott	June 13, 2023	Partly enjoined	On June 13, 2023, Texas passed the SCOPE Act also known as HB 18 into law and was set to take effect in September 2024. The law requires websites to verify the parent or guardian of a minor under 18 if they want to join an online service that is covered by the SCOPE Act and those covered websites must also have some level of parental controls over the minors account and websites must filter out a vague list of harmful subjects for minors as well as block targeted advertisements for minors. However, multiple sections of the law were blocked by Judge Robert Pitman of the U.S District Court for the Western District of Texas. The first sections he blocked was in the case Computer & Communications Industry Association v. Paxton where he blocked the filters section of bill on August 30, 2024. He would then later block the targeted advertisements and age verification sections of the law on February 7, 2025, in the case Students Engaged in Advancing Texas v. Paxton. Both the CCIA and SEAT cases are now pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Louisiana	John Bel Edwards	June 28, 2023	Permanently enjoined	On June 28, 2023, SB 162 was passed into law in the state of Louisiana which requires social media platforms to verify age of all users and require parental consent for those under 16 years of age. Once parental consent is granted the parent or guardian is able to supervise the minors account such being able to view the privacy settings or set breaks on the account. The laws effective date was originally July 1, 2024, but was delayed to July 1, 2025, after Louisiana passed a law banning targeted advertisements for those under 18 which would also take effect on July 1, 2025. In March 2025 NetChoice sued over both SB 162 and HB 577 during the proceedings of the lawsuit Netchoice was temporally in controversy because the Attorney General of Louisiana Liz Murrill claimed that Netchoice's expert Dr. Anthony Bean had submitted an ai generated declaration in the case and sought to remove his declaration. Netchoice has since said that this was the first time they used Dr. Bean for any of their cases but are confident they will win their case still. On December 15, 2025, the laws of SB 162 and HB 577 were ruled unconstitutional as a violation of the First Amendment and were permanently enjoined.
Ohio	Mike DeWine	July 4, 2023	June 18, 2026	In July 2023, Governor Mike DeWine signed HB 33 which was the states 2024 - 2025 fiscal bill which included the Social Media Parental Notification Act. The act was put in fiscal bill by former Lieutenant Governor of Ohio Jon Husted as a way to address potential harms on social media services. The law which is codified as 1349.09 and it requires operators of online services to not allow minors under 16 to use their services unless they have parental consent and can revoke parental consent if they choose to. On April 16, 2025, the law was declared unconstitutional in its entirety and permanently blocked by Judge Algenon L. Marbley after he previously granted a Temporary Restraining Order in January 2024 and a Preliminary Injunction in February of the same year. Ohio would appeal the Permanent Injunction and a hearing on the appeal is set for February 4, 2026. On June 18, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled 2-1 that the law was constitutional and that it survived the high standard of strict scrutiny.
Florida	Ron DeSantis	March 25, 2024	November 25, 2025	In March 2024, Florida passed HB 3, which is codified as §501.1736 and requires any social media or gaming service that have at least 10 percent of users under 16 who use their service for at least 2 hours a day to ban those under 14 from using their service and require parental consent for those 14 or 15 years old. On March 13, 2025, Chief Judge Mark E. Walker denied a request to block the law because it was unclear if the law applied to any members of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) or Netchoice. He would later in June 2025 grant an amended request to block the law after the Plaintiffs challenging the law submitted evidence that at least some of their members were affected by the act. Florida had also attempted to enforce the law against Snapchat after the Judge denied the first request to block it. The state after the judge granted the request to block the law quickly appealed to the U.S Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. On November 25, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled 2–1 to grant a stay allowing the law to take effect claiming the law was likely appropriately tailored under intermediate scrutiny the ruling was written by Circuit Judge Elizabeth L. Branch and was joined by Circuit Judge Barbara Lagoa and the dissent from Circuit Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum who wrote that the law likely burdened the First Amendment rights of minors and adults and was likely unconstitutional. The ones challenging the law the Computer & Communication Industry Association and NetChoice would seek to fast track the appeals process, which was granted, and the case will be heard during the week of February 23, 2026. This was later changed, and is set to be heard in the appellate court on March 10, 2026.
Georgia (U.S. state)	Brian Kemp	April 23, 2024	Preliminarily enjoined	In April 2024, Georgia passed SB 351 codified as §39-6-1 to §39-6-5, which requires social media companies to verify the age of users, and users under 16 must have parental consent and cannot be shown targeted advertising. In June 2025, the law was blocked from taking effect after a federal judge found it to be likely unconstitutional.
Mississippi	Tate Reeves	April 30, 2024	July 17, 2025	Mississippi in 2024 passed a law known as HB 1126 which requires Digital Service Providers (DSPs) to verify the age of account holders and require parental consent for those under 18. DSPs aren't allowed to collect certain data from users under 18 or show them a vaguely defined list of harmful content such as content about stalking or illegal activities. In June 2024, the trade association NetChoice sued Mississippi over the law, and in July 2024, federal judge Halil Suleyman Ozerden blocked the law from taking effect. Mississippi would then appeal the ruling and in April 2025 the Fifth Circuit would vacate the injunction blocking Mississippi's law because the court did not review the law correctly under the Supreme Court's decision in Moody v. NetChoice. NetChoice would then file an amended complaint and won a new injunction in June 2025. Mississippi once again appealed, and in July 2025, the Fifth Circuit stayed the order for the second injunction. NetChoice would then appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court which denied the request to block Mississippi's law; however, Justice Kavanaugh concurred stating he believed that NetChoice would succeed on the merits, but did not show any evidence that a temporary order in favor of the state would harm them. In response to this the social networking app Bluesky blocked access to Mississippi in August 2025.
Tennessee	Bill Lee	May 2, 2024	January 1, 2025	In 2024, Tennessee passed the Protecting Kids from Social Media Act, also known as HB 1891. The law requires social media to verify the age of users and require parental consent for users under 18. On June 18, 2025, Judge Eli Richardson denied a preliminary injunction to block the law because NetChoice had not shown that its members would face irreparable harm without an injunction. NetChoice would appeal the denial of the injunction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and a hearing on the appeal is on February 4, 2026.
New York	Kathy Hochul	June 20, 2024	180 days after guidance is given by the Attorney General of New York.	In 2024, New York passed a law known as the SAFE For Kids Act that requires parental consent for minors under 18 to use certain social media feeds and restrict notifications between the hours of 12:00 am – 6:00 am.
Virginia	Glenn Youngkin	May 2, 2025	Preliminary enjoined	SB 854 codified as §59.1-577.1 is an amendment to the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, and the amendment to it requires social media companies to estimate the age of users and limit usage to one hour per day per app for users under 16, and the time limit can be increased with parental consent. On November 17, 2025, NetChoice filed a lawsuit in the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia arguing that the law violates the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution and asked the court to enjoin the law before it takes effect in January 2026. On February 27, 2026, Federal Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ruled that the law served a compelling interest in trying to prevent social media addiction, however it wasn't the least restrictive means of doing so and violated the first amendment rights of both minors and adults by being both over and underinclusive as it exempted video games which can also have problematic and addictive usage. On April 10, 2026, a panel of judges on the U.S Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit denied a request from the Attorney General of Virginia to allow the law to take effect pending appeal, this ruling wasn't based on constitutional merit but rather that the request violated federal appellate procedure since they did not ask the District Court first.
Nebraska	Jim Pillen	May 20, 2025	July 1, 2026	In May 2025, Nebraska passed the Parental Rights in Social Media Act codified as §86-1701 - §86-1705 requires certain social media platforms to verify the age of users and require parental consent for accounts under 18, and parents are able to have some level of control over teen accounts.
Vermont	Phil Scott	June 12, 2025	January 1, 2027	On June 12, 2025, the Governor of Vermont Phil Scott signed S.69 also known as the Vermont Age Appropriate Design Code Act. When signing it he stated that he knew the law would be challenged in court, however, was hopefully that Vermont might win if they clarify the law through rulemaking. The law requires platforms that directed to children or have at least 2 percent of their audience between 2 - 17 years olds to do a minimum duty of care by minimizing harms such as emotional distress, compulsive usage and discriminatory use of data based on certain characters such race or gender. The law also requires covered social media platforms to not display content, profile, interact with a post, or direct message a minor under 18 by an adult unless allowed to do so. Covered platforms also must not index the profile of minors or send them notifications between 12:00 am - 6:00 am. The laws enforcement and rulemaking authority is through the Attorney General of Vermont and the ruling making process for the law has started since Spring 2026 and fully takes effect on January 1, 2027.
South Carolina	Henry McMaster	February 5, 2026	February 5, 2026	On February 5, 2026, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed H3431 also known as the South Carolina Age-Appropriate Design Code. The law requires covered online services to minimalize harms from there services to minor users under 18 as well as provide control over minor user's experiences on the platform. However, among the requirements of the law is section 39-80-70 of it which requires that services must do a public report to the Attorney General of South Carolina one of these requirements in the public report is how the service does age verification or estimate.
Indiana	Mike Braun	March 4, 2026	January 1, 2027	On March 4, 2026, the governor of Indiana Mike Braun signed HB 1408 one of the requirements of the law is that social media platforms that have at least 10 percent of their audience that is younger than 16 spend an average of 2 hours per day and have certain features that Indiana finds addictive to require parental consent for users under 16 and have the ability of parents to have some level of control over the account and disable some addictive features for accounts under 16. The law is similar to Florida's social media law with some differences them being that it only applies to platforms that make more than 1 billion dollars and does not outright ban users under a certain age. Indiana previously in the same session had a bill known as Indiana SB 199 which would have banned minor under 14 from covered platforms and its restriction would have applied to those under 18 not under 16 but that section of the bill was removed by the sponsor of the bill Jeff Raatz for unknown reasons. HB 1408 social media provisions were added to the bill by a vote of 93–0 by the Indiana House and a vote of 49–1 by the Indiana Senate.
Idaho	Brad Little	April 2, 2026	July 1, 2026	On April 2, 2026, Governor Brad Little of Idaho signed HB 542 also known as the Stop Harms from Addictive Social Media Act. The bill requires social media companies which generate more than 1 billion dollars in revenue in at least one of the last three years to estimate the age of users based on their online activity and if it detects they are under 17 then they cannot access the account without parental consent and are restricted from certain features that Idaho finds addictive such as infinite scrolling, auto play or a profile based feed. It is enforced through private lawsuits and the attorney general of Idaho through Chapter 6, Title 48 of Idaho law which can result in fines that are up to 10,000 dollars per violation.
Minnesota	Tim Walz	May 26, 2026	July 1, 2027	On May 26, 2026, the Governor of Minnesota Tim Walz signed HF 4138 also known as the Stop Harms from Addictive Social Media Act which requires social media platforms that have more than a billion dollars within at least one of the last three years to estimate the age of accounts and if the estimated age is considered to have an 80 percent or higher chance of being under 16. The platform must first obtain parental consent and not allow an addictive interface meaning they cannot give a minor under 16 infinite scrolling, a profile based feed, autoplay, the display of person metrics on videos, or the display of rewards regardless of parental consent. The law is enforced through private lawsuits from affected parents and minors as well as the Attorney General of Minnesota as violating the law is consider a deceptive trade practice under section 325D.44 of Minnesota Statutes and Section 8.31 of Minnesota Statutes gives the Attorney General of Minnesota.

Rejected social media age verification bills in state legislatures

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.

States	Bill	Rejected by	Notes
Colorado	HB 25-086	Governor Jared Polis	In 2025 HB 25-086 was introduced to the Colorado State Legislature which requires social media platforms to disclose certain information about their polices among these disclosure requirements was that platforms had to show they users who did provide their true age. On April 24, 2025, Governor Jared Polis vetoed the bill calling the bill fatally flawed and that it erodes privacy. The next day the Senate overrode his veto by a vote of 29–6, however the bill died in the Colorado House of Representatives by a vote of 51–13.
Hawaii	SB 2761	House Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs	In January 2026 SB 2761 was introduced to the Hawaii Senate which was a social media ban for minors under 16 which was inspired by Australia's social media ban and would pass the Hawaiian senate by a vote of 22–3 on March 10, 2026, with the vote being by party lines with all the Democratic members voting in favor and all the Republican members voting against. The bill would later be amended in the Hawaii House to include an exception for minors under 16 if they had parental consent, and was amended later after this to have the age verification and parental consent process to happen on the Appstore level, shortly after these amendments to the bill Representative David Tarnas who is chair of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs deferred the bill indefinitely because the bill raised concerns around how it would restrict the right to freedom of speech, something that the Australia constitution does not have outright unlike the United States which does.
Maine	LD 844	Maine State Legislature	In 2025 LD 844 was introduced in the Maine State Legislature and requires age verification for social media services and would ban all users under 14 and require parental consent for users aged 14 or 15. A violation of the law results in a fine of 10,000 per violation and 25,000 dollars per violation if the company has violated the law more than once. The Maine State Legislature placed an ought not to pass motion on the bill which was accepted effectively meaning the bill could not go forward for this term in the Legislature.
Montana	HB 925	Montana State Legislature	During the legislative session for 2025 in Montana HB 925 was introduced. The bill required social media companies to require age assurance that was at least 95% accurate and set default settings on an account assigned to someone under 18 and these default settings could not be changed without parental consent. It would also be enforced through Montana Department of Justice under §30-14-103 of Montana Code and violating §30-14-103 of Montana Code can result of fines 10,000 dollars per violation and up to one year in prison. The bill passed the House committee by a vote of 12-8 and passed the full House by a vote of 54–44. However, was tabled in the Senate committee it was assigned to by a vote of 11–1. The reason for this is unknown, however likely has to do with fact that similar laws in states such as Utah or Ohio have been found Unconstitutional under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
New Hampshire	HB 1650	New Hampshire House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee	HB 1650 also known as the New Hampshire Age-Appropriate Design Code was a proposed bill that would have required certain websites to have a duty of care so that websites will not use their data to discriminate or cause emotional harm. Social media platforms also cannot have a user under 18 to have their profile be able to be viewed publicly and cannot send notifications between 12 am and 6 am. On March 3, 2026, The New Hampshire House Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee voted 13-0 that the bill was "Inexpedient to Legislate" meaning that the bill won't advance any further.
Vermont	H. 712	Governor Phil Scott	On January 9, 2024, H. 712, the age-appropriate design code, was introduced to the Vermont General Assembly. The bill required services likely to be accessed by minors to act in the best interest of minors, which meant that such services should have processed minors' data in a way that does not cause them physical, psychological or financial harm, and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, disability, sex, or sexual orientation. The bill also required covered entities to conduct impact assessments for services that were likely to be accessed by minors to determine whether they would lead minors' exposure to harmful or discriminatory contact or conduct. The entities were required to provide any privacy information, terms of service, policies, and community standards concisely and use language that minors could understand. Covered entities were not to collect a minor's precise geolocation information, using dark patterns, or profile a minor by default unless necessary, and must have estimated user ages. Penalties were up to $2,500 per affected user and up to $7,500 per affected user for intentional violations. On January 17, S. 289, a modified companion bill was introduced in the Vermont Senate. On March 19, S. 289 passed the Senate by a vote of 27–0. On June 7, H. 121 passed the House. On June 13, governor Phil Scott vetoed H. 121, because it had a private right of action and because the Kids Code section of the bill was similar to a California bill that was enjoined for likely violating the First Amendment. On June 17, his veto was sustained.
Washington	HB 1834 and SB 5708	Washington State Legislature	In 2025 HB 1834 and SB 5708 were introduced to the Washington State Legislature at the request of the Attorney General of Washington Nicholas W. Brown with SB 5708 passing the Washington Senate by a vote of 36–12 on March 12, 2025, however, did not pass the Washington House of Representatives. Both bills would be considered again in 2026, however in February 2026 both bills were placed on the X File which means they couldn't advance any further. Both bills would have required social media companies to verify the age of users and ban users under 18 from having addictive feeds as well as ban notifications at night and during school hours without parental consent.
Wisconsin	AB 105	Governor Tony Evers	In April 2026, Governor Tony Evers vetoed the bill stating it was a violation of personal privacy. A previous version of the bill banned the usage of VPNs, but the section was removed in the Wisconsin Senate by Van Wanggaard.
Wyoming	HB 85	Wyoming State Legislature	On January 26, 2024, HB 85 was introduced to the Wyoming State Legislature by Representative Steve Harshman after he heard of a case from a constituent whose son had passed away after being cyberbullied. The bill would have required social media companies to verified parental consent before a minor under 18 years of age could open an account and this consent could be revoked, the Attorney General of Wyoming would promulgate rules for the act. The law failed for introduction on February 14, 2024, because the vote for it was 36-25 meaning it didn't have enough votes to pass for introduction which requires a vote of two thirds of approval. The bill would be reintroduced in 2025 as HB 19 once again by Steve Harshman, however, wasn't considered and failed a second time. It's unknown if the bill will come back for a third time or another bill similar to it will be introduced for the 2026 session.

Canada

Federal level

Bill C-34

On June 10, 2026, Canada's Culture Minister Marc Miller introduced Bill C-34, also known as the Safe Social Media Act, in the House of Commons. This would require social media companies to prohibit children under 16 years of age from having an account. However, social media platforms can be exempt if they maintain safeguards for children on their platform. The bill exempts video games and AI chatbots from the account ban for children under 16, though AI chatbots are regulated elsewhere in the bill. The bill does need to be approved by parliament first before taking effect.

Quebec

In May 2025, a committee of Quebec Legislative members recommended that social media be banned for those under 14 without parental consent, though it is unclear if they plan on introducing legislation to implement this policy.

Nova Scotia

Iain Rankin, former premier of Nova Scotia said that his party, the Liberal Party, is planning on introducing a bill to ban anyone under 16 from social media.

Costa Rica

On 9 December 2025, a bill known as File 25536 was introduced in the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica. The bill would ban social media accounts for users under 14 and only allow children to use services designed for children, and require age verification to create accounts as well as parental consent for users who are between 14 to 17 years of age. The age verification would be through Costa Rica's minor card which is known as a TIM. The bill would later be advanced out of committee on 14 April 2026 unanimously to be debated and voted on. However, as of 16 May no vote has been done.

Trinidad and Tobago

In January 2026, The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the government would ban social media use for children under 12 years of age. However, she has not made clear what will be used to determine the age of users or when it will take effect.

South America

Ecuador

In March 2026, Ecuador Assembly Member Katherine Pacheco Machuca would introduce a bill that would ban social media use for children under 15 years old with penalties for noncompliance being up to 5 percent of their local annual revenue and would take effect 18 months after being published in the official registry of Ecuador. The bill is meant to combat growing crime within the country and was introduced after a report from the Ecuador’s Organized Crime Observatory found that 27% of youth who had been recruited into organized crime had been through social media. Ecuador is also considering other measures to address the growing organized crime within the country other than the social media ban.

Oceania

Fiji

The Fiji Minister for Information Lynda Tabuya and the Fiji Minister for Communication Ioane Naivalurua have launched a taskforce to study the effects of international laws on social media age restrictions and to possibly propose prohibiting those under 16 from social media within the country. However, they have stated that such a bill would not be introduced to the Parliament of Fiji without public consultation first.

Papua New Guinea

In October 2025, the government of Papua New Guinea approved its 2025 social media policy which included 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.

Countries that have rejected online age verification laws

Europe

Croatia

In March 2026, the parliamentary club We Can! requested that access to social networks be restricted for those under the age of 15. According to their proposal, access to social media would be allowed to those under the age of 15 only with the consent of a parent or guardian, although their access would still be restricted between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. The Minister of Justice, Public Administration and Digital Transformation Damir Habijan rejected the proposal saying that the issue of the technical implementation of such a ban has not yet been resolved.

Estonia

Estonia Justice and Digital Affairs Minister Liisa Pakosta supports the idea of finding ways to decrease the harmful effects of social media for young people, however, does not support the idea of implementing age verification saying that it could affect everyone and could easily be bypassed by young people and instead supports enforcing existing EU Laws and better education for young people and parents.

Oceania

New Zealand

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, with the maximum fine that can be imposed being 2 million NZD. The bill has been placed on pause following consideration of wide regulation change.

See also

• Parental controls
• Internet censorship and surveillance by country
• Internet censorship
• Censorship
• Internet
• Age verification
• Network Surveillance