A number of countries want to bring in age restrictions for social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. But can such bans really tackle the problems social media poses?
https://p.dw.com/p/5BscwAustralia was the first country to implement a social media ban for children under the age of 16Image: Claudio Galdames Alarcon/Anadolu/picture allianceAdvertisementAt the moment, governments in more than a dozen countries are trying to limit minors' access to social media.
These include France, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom. Germany is also considering taking action.
Australia became the first country in the world to introduce social media bans for users under the age of 16 in late 2025. Indonesia also introduced age limits in late March.
The aim of such legislation is to protect young people, which seems logical because children's screen time, which is often high, can trigger conflict in many families. According to a 2025 study by the 38-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, half of all 15-year-olds in OECD countries spent at least 30 hours a week on digital devices.
Despite this, the question remains: Are age limits really the best way to address the negative impacts of social media?
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Psychologist and neuroscientist Christian Montag thinks the debate misses the point. "When new technologies show up, moral panic quickly follows," said the professor of cognitive and brain sciences at China's University of Macau. "And not to suggest that there aren't real concerns among politicians, but it is also pretty easy to quickly elevate your visibility without really having to do much other than call for a social media ban."
Educational researcher Nina Kolleck also views the debate with skepticism. Australia has shown that it's just not that easy to push through age limits, said Kolleck, professor of educational and socialization theory at Potsdam University, Germany. But "we still haven't resolved the truly fundamental problems with social media, we've just raised the minimum age for admission a bit."
The problems start with potentially addictive personalized algorithms and gimmicks, such as push notifications and endless scrolling, which are designed to keep users locked on a given platform for as long as possible.
Beyond that, once on a platform, users can be confronted with violent or sexual content, said Kolleck.
Although digital media give children and young people the ability to inform themselves, to play and to meet, the OECD study suggests excessive use can have negative consequences. Among these are physical problems such as sleeplessness and lack of movement to problems such as cyberbullying, social isolation and depression.
Montag says it is often difficult to isolate the exact effects of social media because other factors, like environment and genetics, also play a role. The connection between excessive or addictive smartphone use and poor academic performance, however, is relatively well documented. The same goes for feelings of body dysmorphia among social media users.
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Montag says children and teens are particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of social media.
"The human brain needs a relatively long time to develop," he said. "We estimate that the prefrontal cortex isn't fully developed until a person turns 20 or maybe even their mid-20s."
"That means it is tougher for minors to regulate themselves, and they have a harder time putting down their phones than adults."
But adults aren't much better. Many people older than 20 also struggle with the issues surrounding social media.
This raises the question of whether social media bans for children under 14 or under 16 actually make a big difference?
Experts say the debate needs to be expanded. Many see age restrictions as just one of several necessary measures. Kolleck, for instance, describes it as a "pseudo-debate that distracts from truly effective instruments."
Kolleck says numerous effective measures are anchored in the European Union's Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU's legal framework for digital services, whichobliges large online platforms and search engines to offer more protections for users — forcing TikTok, Instagram and others to systematically rank and lower risks, as well as demanding transparency regarding their algorithms.
The DSA also requires companies to provide independent researchers access to their data, allowing the outside monitors to examine how certain features or elements influence users. That has been the biggest problem to date, says Montag: "For years, we had to fight with both hands tied behind our back. And access is still completely insufficient, despite the introduction of the DSA."
The DSA has failed to prove itself effective or has not been fully implemented in other areas, too. US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly attempted to defend US tech companies against massive EU fines with the threat of punitive tariffs, poses yet another problem. Of course, in the end, the DSA only applies to EU countries.
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Toning down and modifying certain design features for underage users could be another way to fight the negative effects of social media. According to Montag, Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, offers an under-14 version of the app that only allows scrolling for 40 minutes. After that, it displays no new content.
TikTok already has time limits, though they are easy to turn off. Children under 13 theoretically need to have a legal guardian enter a code into their device if they want to be on longer. From 13 on, kids have to set their own code if they want to keep scrolling. That only works if they haven't already said they were older than they are. That, however, is likely often the case because you can give any birthday you like when setting up an account.
Montag says, in the end, the platforms should be set up in a fundamentally different way, especially for kids, but also for adults. "Is the data business model that spies on users and greatly maximizes online time unhealthy as such? Yes. I don't really need to wait for scientific studies on the psychological problems."
Beyond discussions about age limits and other measures aimed at fostering general media competence in society, pressure has to be put above all on the platforms and they have to be strictly regulated: "Other social media models would have to be financed differently — if no longer data-based, then maybe by subscription," he suggests. "And if platforms aren't built to keep people glued to their screens anymore, they will also be a lot more boring."
This article was originally published in German.
