Parents WiredIn News: Online Safety Updates for Parents

More than 20 countries are now restricting kids' social media — here's the whole board at a glance

17 September 2026 · Policy

AFP ran the numbers on September 17 and came up with a tally worth keeping: more than 20 countries have now either brought in or drafted rules limiting children's access to social media, with about seven already in force or close to it. Australia was first out of the gate at the end of 2025 with its under-16 ban, though data released in August suggests a great many teenagers have simply found their way around it. Others have taken different routes — Brazil now makes platforms tie under-16 accounts to a parent's, Indonesia and Malaysia have both shut under-16s out of the major apps this year, Turkey's under-15 law is due to bite late in 2026, and the UAE has announced a ban of its own. Europe is a queue rather than a wall: Greece is aiming for January 2027, Austria, Slovenia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Ireland are all at various stages, and Britain is working towards an under-16 ban by early 2027 with an overnight curfew for 16- and 17-year-olds on top. The cautionary tale in the list is France, where parliament passed an under-15 ban over the summer only to have the Constitutional Council strike it down on free-speech grounds — the president has now promised a sturdier version by spring 2027.

What this means for us

It's easy to read a list like this and feel that the grown-ups have it in hand. The honest read is the opposite: most of these rules are years from landing, and the one country that has actually switched a ban on is finding teenagers walk straight around it. Treat every announcement as a slow-moving backstop and keep doing the things that work now — real-age accounts, controls set on the device rather than inside each app, and the ordinary conversations that travel with your child wherever the rules don't.

Source: Agence France-Presse (via Malay Mail)Read the ban guide →

PolicySocial Media Ban

It's official: Europe puts the KIDS Act on the table — no social media under 13, your own account at 15, and platforms have to prove they're safe first

17 September 2026 · Policy

The European Commission formally adopted its KIDS Act proposal on September 17, and the published text is a good deal more detailed than the leaks that preceded it. The age rules work like a staircase: no social media account at all under 13, then a parent-run limited account for 13- and 14-year-olds with the parental tools permanently switched on, approval over who can contact them and a daily cap of one hour, and finally an account of their own from 15. Sitting underneath that is the half the Commission says actually matters more — every service children use, including games, app stores and AI chatbots, would have to be built safely from the start: no streaks that punish a child for missing a day, no infinite scroll, no notifications engineered to pull them back, feeds tuned for wellbeing rather than time spent, no messages from strangers without approval, and no livestreaming by default. Age would be confirmed through a separate certified app that tells a platform one thing only — over the line or under it — and never who the person is, while the biggest platforms would have to put an independently audited compliance plan in front of regulators before they're allowed near children at all. Fines could reach 6 per cent of a company's worldwide turnover. It still has to get through the European Parliament and all 27 member states, so nothing changes on anyone's phone tonight.

What this means for us

This won't touch your child's phone for a long while yet, so read it as a signpost rather than a change. The bit worth taking to heart is the Commission's own admission: age limits on their own don't fix much, because the damage is in the design — the streak, the endless scroll, the notification at ten at night. Every one of those has a setting you can change tonight, on any device, without waiting for Brussels. Our family plan at /start walks you through it.

Source: European CommissionRead the ban guide →

PolicySocial Media Ban

Europe unveils the 'EU Kids Act' — a bloc-wide age-15 rule for social media that reaches AI companions and games too

16 September 2026 · Policy

On September 16, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen used her annual State of the Union speech to preview the 'EU Kids Act' — Europe's attempt to replace 27 different national rules with one shared set of protections for children online — with the full proposal due to be published the next day. The headline is a tiered age system: under-3s kept off social media entirely, 3-to-13s limited to 'child-friendly' versions, 13-to-15s allowed an account only with a parent's say-so (and with parental oversight and screen-time limits attached), and full unsupervised accounts from 15. Crucially it doesn't stop at social apps — the draft reaches AI 'companion' chatbots and online games too, and it would force platforms to actually verify a user's age at sign-up rather than let a child type in any birthday they like, likely leaning on new privacy-first EU age-check apps that confirm an age band without handing over an ID. It would also ban the addictive machinery itself: infinite scroll, 'streaks', and the recommendation 'rabbit holes' that keep kids glued. It's a proposal, not yet law — it still has to wind its way through the European Parliament and the member states — but it's the clearest sign yet of where the whole continent is heading.

What this means for us

This is a big one to watch, but nothing changes on your child's phone because of it yet — it's a proposal at the very start of a long road. The part worth borrowing right now is the thinking baked into it: that the same protections should follow a child across social apps, chatbots and games, and that the real problem isn't 'social media' in general but the endless scroll, the streaks and the algorithm built to keep them there. You don't need a law to act on that at home — set every account, game and AI app to your child's real age, switch off autoplay and endless feeds where you can, and keep the ordinary conversations going. Our family plan at /start walks you through it.

Source: RTÉ NewsRead the ban guide →

PolicySocial Media Ban

Leaked draft: Europe's 'Kids Act' would lock under-15s out of social media — and put rules on games and AI companions

15 September 2026 · Policy

A confidential draft seen by Euronews on September 15 shows the European Commission is about to propose that children under 15 can't open a social media or video-sharing account without a parent's approval, with the bill due to be published on September 17. The scope is wider than most expected: alongside Instagram, TikTok and YouTube it reaches into online games and AI chatbots and companions, which the document describes as tools handing out mental health and personal advice to minors. It also goes after the design itself — infinite scrolling, invented notifications and certain reward loops would be off-limits for kids, recommendation feeds would have to avoid engagement-driven rabbit holes, risky settings would be switched off by default and children's accounts set to private. The ages are stepped: under-threes shut out entirely, three to 13 supervised access to child-friendly services only, 13 to 15 stripped-back accounts under parental control, and safety-by-design duties still applying up to 18. The draft's own line for the pitch is that parents, not algorithms, should raise Europe's children.

What this means for us

Nothing changes on your child's phone because of this — it's a draft, and it still has years of argument ahead of it. What's worth noticing is what the drafters decided the actual problem was: not 'social media' as one lump, but the endless scroll, the manufactured notifications, and chatbots that behave like a confidant. All three are things you can turn down at home this week, without waiting for anyone.

Source: EuronewsRead the ban guide →

PolicySocial Media Ban

The Netherlands and Spain push for one EU-wide age limit for social media — and want it to cover games and AI chatbots too

11 September 2026 · Policy

On September 11, the Netherlands and Spain went public with a joint push for a single, Europe-wide minimum age for social media — rather than leaving each country to invent its own rule. Their pitch is that the age limit should be written and enforced at the EU level, modeled on the bloc's existing Digital Services Act, and that it shouldn't stop at social apps: they want it to reach video games, AI 'companion' chatbots and other risky online services too. To keep it from becoming a privacy headache, they suggest an age-check app whose only job is to confirm someone is over a given age — not to hand over a birthday or an ID — and they'd let a service off the hook if it can prove it's already safe enough for kids. They're not alone: around ten EU countries — including France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Greece, Austria, Belgium and Poland — are now weighing or advancing their own versions. It all lands the same week the European Commission's president is due to set out her own plan for protecting children online.

What this means for us

For those of us watching the ban story unfold, this is a useful read on where Europe is heading — but it's a proposal, not a rule, and nothing changes on your child's phone because of it. The idea worth borrowing is the one tucked inside it: that the same protections should follow a child across social apps, games and chatbots, because that's where they actually spend their time — not just the one app we happen to be worried about this week. You don't need a law to do that at home: set every account, game and AI app to your child's real age, and put the same limits on all of them. Our family plan at /start walks you through it.

Source: EuronewsRead the ban guide →

SocialSocial Media Ban

Ireland asked the kids about a social media ban — 'teach us instead, we'll just get around it'

10 September 2026 · Social

While half the world argues about banning children off social media, Ireland's media regulator did something refreshingly simple on September 10 — it asked them. Coimisiún na Meán published 'Online Safety & Children's Digital Lives', the Irish arm of the wider EU Kids Online study, surveying both children and their parents. Sixty-nine per cent of children said they'd rather be taught how to stay safe online than be banned from social media, and 67 per cent reckoned a ban wouldn't work because kids would find a way around it — a view their parents largely share, with 43 per cent agreeing a ban would be sidestepped against 23 per cent who disagreed. That said, parents were still clear about the upside of less social media: around two-thirds thought going without would help their child's schoolwork, safety and mental health. The harder numbers are worth sitting with. Sixty per cent of 9-to-17-year-olds have a social media account, rising to 90 per cent by 16 or 17. A third of children had felt upset by something online in the past year, climbing to 46 per cent among 16-to-17-year-olds. And children with a disability were half again as likely to report that, and more than three times as likely to say it happened often.

What this means for us

What stands out is that the kids and the parents landed in roughly the same place — teach us, don't just lock us out — and it matches what Australia has been finding since its own ban started. Neither group is saying social media is harmless. They're saying a wall a child can walk around isn't the protection it looks like. So keep doing both halves: the practical controls at home, and the ordinary conversations that travel with your child when the controls don't.

Source: Coimisiún na Meán (Ireland)Read the ban guide →

PolicySocial Media Ban

More than 130 child-safety groups tell the EU: fix the apps, don't just ban the kids

9 September 2026 · Policy

The same week Europe's governments edged closer to an under-16 rule, more than 130 children's, digital-rights and mental-health organizations — including the 5Rights Foundation, Amnesty International and the Center for Countering Digital Hate — wrote to the European Commission's president on September 9 to argue the plan is aimed at the wrong target. Their case, in plain terms: a blanket ban quietly shifts the job of keeping kids safe onto parents and children themselves, while leaving the apps built exactly the way they are. Instead, they want the EU to force platforms to be safe 'by design and default' — to fix the risky features rather than simply lock kids out — and to actually enforce the online-safety rules Europe already has on the books. They're careful to say they aren't against age limits altogether; sensible ones, they argue, should go hand in hand with real safety standards, not stand in for them. It's a striking bit of pushback, coming from the very groups who spend their days protecting children.

What this means for us

This one's worth reading precisely because it comes from people on our side of the table — and their point is a fair one for any parent to hold onto. A ban, on its own, can lull us into feeling the problem's been handled when the app is still built to hook and still carries the same risks. So whatever the lawmakers land on, treat it as a backstop, not the whole plan. The parts that genuinely protect a child are the unglamorous ones you control: real-age accounts, the safety settings switched on, and an honest, ongoing conversation. Our family plan at /start is a good place to begin.

Source: Agence France-Presse (via Tech Xplore)Read the ban guide →

PolicySocial Media Ban

The Philippines moves to bar under-13s from social media — and switch off chat groups and shorts for teens

7 September 2026 · Policy

Another country has joined the queue. On September 7 a Philippine House of Representatives committee approved a bill that would stop children under 13 from having a social media account at all, including the social and chat features built into online games. For 13-to-17-year-olds it goes somewhere few other countries have: the bill would block harmful content, switch off endless short-video scrolling, and shut them out of group chats entirely. It would also require platforms to register a legal presence in the Philippines so local authorities actually have someone to hold to account. Two things are worth noting before anyone calls it settled — the Senate's own version sets the minimum age at 16 rather than 13, so the two chambers still have to reconcile, and lawmakers deliberately left screen-time limits out of the committee text to be argued over by the full House later.

What this means for us

The interesting part here isn't the ban itself but what sits underneath it: the bill treats group chats and short-video feeds as the risky bits, not social media in general. That's a fair read of where trouble usually starts, and it's something we can act on at home tonight without waiting for any law — check who your child is in group chats with, and have a look at whether the endless short-video feed is switched on. Our family plan at /start walks you through it.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer (INQUIRER.net)Read the ban guide →

PolicySocial Media Ban

Australia's app stores start checking ages this week — Apple, Google and Microsoft must gate adult apps

4 September 2026 · Policy

From September 9, Australia switches on another layer of its child-safety push: the big app stores — Apple's App Store, Google Play, and Microsoft's Store and Xbox — now have to check a person's age before letting anyone download apps rated 18+ for adults. It's one more piece of a stack of new 'age assurance' rules the country is rolling out bit by bit, sitting alongside the under-16 social media ban that began last December and age checks on search engines earlier in the year. The thinking is layered protection: if a child can't easily download a grown-up app in the first place, that's one more gate before they reach content that isn't meant for them. Apple is doing it through a new system that shares only a rough age range — not a birthday or an ID — and lets parents decide what's shared for a child's account. It won't be watertight, and plenty of these checks are still easy for a determined teen to slip past, but it's a sign of how hard regulators are now leaning on the app stores themselves, not just the apps, to help keep kids out of the adult aisle.

What this means for us

Wherever you live, this points to something you can actually use tonight: the app store is the front door to almost everything on a phone or tablet, and it's a door you can lock yourself. Set up your child's account with their real age and switch on the app-store controls so any new download needs your OK — that quietly stops a lot of 18+ apps before they ever land. Pair it with the ordinary, no-drama conversations about why some apps aren't for kids yet, and you've done the part no government rule can do for you. Our family plan at /start is a good place to begin.

Source: eSafety Commissioner (Australia)Read the ban guide →