Australia is booting kids under 16 off social media. Some senators hope the US is next: ‘Our lack of action is inexcusable.’

• Australia's social media ban for children under 16 took effect this week.
• Australian lawmakers say the ban will help protect young children from harm on social media.
• A group of US lawmakers introduced a similar bill earlier this year.

A law in Australia banning children under 16 from creating social media accounts took effect this week. It was the latest move in a growing global effort to protect young people from the harmful effects of social media.

A group of American senators is hoping the US will do the same.

"Australia is stepping up to protect kids from the addictive and harmful content being constantly fed to them on social media. It's now time for Congress to do the same and pass the Kids Off Social Media Act," Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, a Democrat, said in a statement to Business Insider.

Australia's ban, which was first approved in 2024, requires social media apps like TikTok, Instagram, X, Snapchat, YouTube, and others to find ways to prevent young Australian children and teenagers from opening accounts.

"The onus will be on social media companies to ensure no child under 16 is on their platforms. If they have not taken reasonable steps to remove them, they will have broken Australian law and be subject to substantial fines," Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wrote in an op-ed in a local newspaper on Sunday. "Social media companies have a social responsibility. That responsibility starts with the protection of Australian children."

Lawmakers in Norway and Denmark have also proposed laws that would bar social media platforms from offering services to children under 15. In Malaysia, a ban on children under 16 creating social media accounts will take effect in 2026.

These kinds of preventive measures come on the heels of recent research showing social media can negatively impact a child's mental health, resulting in depression, anxiety, addiction, or other concerning behaviors.

The World Health Organization surveyed nearly 280,000 young teens across 44 countries in 2024 and reported that 11% of respondents showed "signs of problematic social media behaviour, struggling to control their use and experiencing negative consequences." That same year, former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy compared the addictiveness of social media to cigarettes and argued the apps should come with a warning to combat a mental health "emergency."

Albanese said the ban in Australia will help parents have conversations with their children about the realities of using social media and combat peer pressure. "This will be one of the ­biggest social and cultural changes our nation has faced," he wrote in the op-ed.

The US Senate introduces the Kids Off Social Media Act

The US Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee introduced the Kids Off Social Media Act earlier this year. A version of the bill was first introduced in 2024, but it did not advance.

The bill, sponsored by a bipartisan group of senators, would bar social media platforms from allowing children under 13 years old to create or maintain accounts. It would also prohibit companies from using algorithms to target children under 17.

Schatz, along with his Senate colleagues Ted Cruz of Texas, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, and Katie Britt of Alabama, authored the bill.

"Legislation like the Kids Off Social Media Act takes tangible steps to rein in Big Tech and help save children's lives," Britt told Business Insider in a statement. "The grip these companies have on Congress and our lack of action is inexcusable."

The bill will be debated before a vote in the Senate. If it passes, the bill will also have to go through the House of Representatives and ultimately be signed by the president.

In the meantime, American legislators have also taken legal action against social media companies, including Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. In 2023, 33 US states filed a lawsuit accusing the company of knowingly creating addictive social media features that can be harmful to children.

This October, New York City filed a lawsuit against Meta, Alphabet, Snap, and ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, accusing the companies of creating a "youth mental health crisis."

"Social media use by teens has recently been implicated in alarming increases in dangerous and even deadly off-campus activity in New York City," the lawsuit says.

Almost 20 states have also enacted "bell-to-bell" cellphone bans for children in school. And some US states now require age verification and parental consent for teens to open a social media account.

In his statement to Business Insider, Schatz said there's "no good reason for an 8- or 9-year-old to be on Instagram or TikTok. And until companies are mandated by law to enforce some basic rules and stop profiting off of children, they will continue padding their bottom lines."