In July, France joined Australia in restricting minors from accessing social media—barring children under 15 from major platforms, before the ban was blocked by the country’s top court on human rights grounds. The UK aims to forbid kids under 16 from accessing Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms in early 2027, and the EU has announced its own plan to prohibit social media for kids under 15. But early lessons from Australia, which enacted a ban in 2024, show that these sorts of age restrictions are easily circumvented.
A study published earlier this year found that four in five teens under 16 made their way onto barred platforms. Teens have successfully explored many tactics for bypassing bans, from using a sibling’s face for ID to drawing fake facial hair. Some proponents of bans have called for an increased focus on enforcement that blocks these workarounds.
But circumvention is a signal, not a nuisance or something to be simply deterred. The fact that kids are actively looking for ways to outwit the bans highlights their limitations. Social media bans suppress kids’ access to information, including information that’s essential to their development, identity formation, and socialization, especially during adolescence.
Worse, further restriction is likely to backfire. Closing loopholes in age gates could harm kids by pushing them toward less-moderated, higher-risk corners of the web. It also degrades privacy and security for everyone by forcing people to submit sensitive personal information to prove their age.
In our work, we’ve found that parents and kids both want smarter, more nuanced policies that protect children, families, and their rights. That can take the form of mandating stronger limits on data collection by companies, or giving families flexible tools to control content and access on their own terms. Age gates won’t bring about the desired change, nor will they simplify parenting in the digital world.
At best, they will only raise thornier questions and postpone the conversation to a child’s 16th birthday. At worst, they’ll leave kids with no guidance as they make their way through the online world. When young people circumvent restrictions, they are often doing what we want developing minds to do and what we celebrate in other contexts: lean into curiosity, problem-solve, and exercise independence.
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