Technology & Science
Spain & Greece Line Up Behind Australia’s Under-16 Social Media Ban
On 3 Feb 2026, momentum leapt from Australia’s December 2025 under-16 social-media blackout to Europe as Spain unveiled a matching bill and Greece signalled an imminent under-15 restriction, marking the first multinational cascade of such laws.
Focusing Facts
- Australia’s statute, in force 10 Dec 2025, forces 16 named platforms to bar sub-16 accounts or risk fines up to A$49.5 million (≈US$34 million).
- Spain’s PM Pedro Sánchez announced on 3 Feb 2026 that a ban on users under 16—with mandatory age-verification and executive liability—will be tabled in parliament within a week.
- Reuters the same day quoted Greek officials saying the country is "very close" to a device-level block for children under 15 via the state Kids Wallet system.
Context
Governments have intervened before when new technologies outpaced child-safety norms: Britain’s 1833 Factory Act barred children under nine from textile mills, and the 1996 U.S. Telecommunications Act required V-chips to filter TV content. The present push reflects a larger 21st-century reversal from the borderless, anonymous internet ideal of the 1990s toward nation-state enforcement, data localization, and biometric age checks. If a de-facto global digital adulthood of 16 takes hold, it could cement real-ID internet use for the next century, narrowing online anonymity much as the 1934 Communications Act standardized radio licensing for decades. Yet history cautions that sweeping bans can backfire—Prohibition (1919-1933) birthed black markets and constitutional challenges, echoes already heard in Australian lawsuits alleging free-speech violations. Whether 2120 observers view 2026 as a child-protection milestone or an overzealous moral panic will depend on how effectively these laws adapt to evasive technologies and cross-border realities.
Perspectives
Government-aligned and child-protection focused outlets
Devdiscourse, ThePrint, Investing.com — Portray Australia’s pioneering under-16 social-media ban as a necessary move to safeguard children’s mental health that is quickly inspiring copy-cat laws across Europe and beyond. Tend to echo official talking points and child-safety rhetoric while giving little space to free-speech worries, enforcement challenges or the tech industry’s counter-arguments.
Tech and civil-liberties oriented coverage
Gizmodo, ITV Hub — Stresses that sweeping age-verification bans may overreach, spark lawsuits from Reddit and others, and threaten teens’ freedom of expression even as governments tout child-safety goals. Focus on rights and industry push-back can underplay the scientific evidence of social-media harms and the public momentum behind stricter regulation.