Explainer: What after the social media ban for those below 15-16

DENMARK recently became the first European country to announce a political agreement to ban social media for children under 15. Last year, Australia passed a landmark legislation initiating a mandatory minimum age of 16 for accounts on some social media platforms. As the Australian law comes into force in December — with TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and Threads expected to deactivate accounts registered by users below the required age — the move has reignited a global debate on whether regulating access by age can truly bring digital safety for children.

Policy issue that needs wider debate

“Banning social media or setting an age limit on online platforms is a policy issue that needs proper discussion,” says professor of clinical psychology Dr Manoj Kumar Sharma, whose SHUT (Service for Healthy Use of Technology) Clinic, run in collaboration with NIMHANS, Bengaluru, gets 20-25 children every month suffering from Internet gaming disorder or problematic use.

“While cases of addiction to technology are around 3 to 5 per cent, the non-problematic as well as problematic use of Internet can be seen in majority of children,” he says.

Among the most common red flags that push parents to seek help are excessive screen use, frequent emotional outbursts, social isolation, anxiety, uncooperative behaviour, decreasing attention span, hyperactivity and irritability, notes Dr Sharma.

“Technology has become such an integral part of our lives that if parents deny social media access, children tend to rebel and ask why they’re being restrained when their friends are not. But if no one has access, they’ll soon have to accept the situation,” he adds.

The challenge at hand

Dr Preeti Galagali, paediatrician and vice-president of the South Asia International Association for Adolescent Health (2025-28), feels the real challenge lies in the system itself. “Children are smarter than we think. They know how to hack or bypass these sites. Ideally, the restraint has to start at the level of the media creator. The government or a regulatory body should monitor what content is available online, and media creators must be held accountable for what they put out. This is especially crucial since many a time, it’s the AI/algorithm that’s speaking to the child,” she says.

Dr Galagali, who works on tech addiction of adolescents, underlines the crucial role families need to play. “Parents should set clear boundaries whenever they hand over a gadget to a child. Implementation of those boundaries is the key. During the Covid lockdowns, when online classes were taking place, many children were cyber loafing — attending classes in one window and playing games or surfing other sites in another. Often children interact with others online through gaming websites. Parents need to spend time with children and identify any red flags.”

Who will enforce and how

Most social media platforms rely on self-declaration of age that can easily be falsified or manipulated, says Nirali Bhatia, cyber psychologist. “Without a robust verification system and parental cooperation, a complete ban becomes a more workable solution until an appropriate system is ready. When restrictions are imposed abruptly, children often bypass them — lying about their age, borrowing devices or using hidden apps. When games like Pokemon and PUBG were banned, users initially tried to get access through other means, but because it was a total ban, the numbers dropped sharply. Today, even when these are accessible again, player numbers remain far lower,” she notes.

Once there’s a complete ban and nobody has access, acceptance comes a little more easily, she adds.

Counsellor and therapist Dr Harkamal Grewal believes that “unless there’s a proper policy in place, big tech giants are not going to look out for children’s interests”. Teenagers, she says, are naturally influenced by their peer group, “and that’s healthy. The problem begins when social media itself becomes part of that peer group. That’s when development gets affected”.

“There’s no control over content on social media. Children can easily get exposed to material that’s not age-appropriate. Watching provocative content, for instance, can cause early sexualisation and lead to emotional disturbances. Whenever someone puts themselves out on the Internet, they become vulnerable. More so in case of children who are at an impressionable age,” Dr Grewal adds.

Not possible or helpful

For Chandigarh-based sociologist Anupam Bahri, a complete ban is neither possible nor necessarily helpful. “Children are born into an era where AI and social media surround them. Total isolation till 15, and then sudden exposure, could be even more harmful. Children need guidance from parents and teachers. Whether it’s socialisation in society or online, supervision is essential. Ideally, digital literacy should be part of the school curriculum to make children aware of both the risks and responsibilities that come with social media,” he says.

The challenge, experts agree, lies not just in banning platforms but in building awareness, accountability and age-appropriate digital literacy.