Spain and Greece have announced plans to ban social media access for minors for safety reasons. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said a bill banning under-16s from accessing social media will be tabled in parliament as early as next week.
Meanwhile, in Greece, restrictions will be imposed on users under 15 with an announcement to be made by the government in the near future. These two countries join India, the UK and France which are considering similar restrictions.
So far, only Australia is really serious about preventing the use of social media by under-16s. Platforms will be fined A$49.5 million (~RM 137 million) if they are found to have failed to prevent the use of underage users.
In Malaysia, new account registrations have been banned for users under 16 since January 1, with implementation under the Online Safety Act (ONSA) expected to begin as early as July 2026.
