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Social media platforms to feel global regulatory crunch in 2025

Australia under-16 ban is the tip of regulatory iceberg bringing imminent age checks
Social media platforms to feel global regulatory crunch in 2025
 

2025 is shaping up to be a tough year for social media platforms, as the world trends toward stronger age regulations for social media and more damaging fines for companies that don’t cut the regulatory mustard.

Australia’s much ballyhooed social media ban for users under 16 has made headlines globally, with even NPR checking in with eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, whom it calls the “enforcer” of “one of the strictest internet crackdowns in the world.”

In an interview, Grant compares the law to swimming safety. “You could use the analogy of the algorithmic rip,” she says. “We want to keep kids swimming between the flags where there is supervision, so they aren’t going to the darker, murkier waters where there is no supervision.”

Murky waters everywhere are being fenced off. CMS Law-Now has a breakdown of where and how age assurance laws, aka social media bans, are being applied, in the context of the EUDI Wallet program. It notes that France is working toward a “complete ban on social media for minors under the age of 13 and requiring parental consent for minors under the age of 16.” The UK is considering a similar move. Germany, meanwhile, “relies on the obligation of platform providers to make social media safe for minors rather than on general bans.”

Bhutan, Vietnam among Asian nations imposing regulatory crackdown

In Asia, the situation is not much different. An editorial in Kuensel argues that in Bhutan, “social media is increasingly becoming a hotbed of illegal activities” and that “it is imperative for us to develop regulatory mechanisms requiring social media companies to officially register in the country, and adhere to our content guidelines and national laws.”

Citing comparable efforts in Nepal to regulate social media, it says Bhutan also needs a “comprehensive national strategy to regulate social media to safeguard children and vulnerable populations from harmful content and prevent social media from being misused to create social disharmony.”

Meanwhile, Vietnam’s Decree 147 is now in effect. According to AFP, the law “will compel tech giants operating in Vietnam to store user data, provide it to authorities on request, and remove content the government regards as ‘illegal’ within 24 hours.”

Given that it draws on a 2018 cybersecurity law that drew criticism from the United States, the EU and internet rights’ advocates – and given Vietnam’s penchant for jailing content creators who speak against the government – it is unsurprising that Decree 147 has been labeled “draconian” by opponents.

Le Quang Tu Do, of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), says Decree 147 will “regulate behaviour in order to maintain social order, national security, and national sovereignty in cyberspace.” But Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the law neither protects the public from any genuine security concerns – nor respects fundamental human rights.

“Because the Vietnamese police treat any criticism of the Communist Party of Vietnam as a national security matter, this decree will provide them with yet another tool to suppress dissent,” says Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director for HRW.

Those who fail to comply will find out what UK regulator has in its bag

The UK, while still not authoritarian for the time being, is not to be outdone on fuss. Speaking to SkyNews about Ofcom’s forthcoming requirements for online safety, technology secretary Peter Kyle says platforms will have to ensure their age verification measures for accessing porn are “watertight.”

Platforms that slip up or break the rules will face “tough sanctions” that could include heavy fines and even stints in the clink for company leaders.

“If they allow the children who are under the age that is appropriate, to view content, then they can face heavy fines and, in some circumstances, they’ll face prison sentences,” Kyle says, in the regulatory version of a throwdown.

“This is the kind of direction of travel you’re going to have with me because I want to make sure kids are kept safe. These are not rules and powers that I’m bringing in just to sit on a shelf.”

‘Normative change’ to put onus for safety on companies: Inman Grant

It is worth quoting in length Julie Inman Grant’s statement on what motivated Australia’s social media ban. She argues that a powerful and ubiquitous new industry cannot foist the responsibility for the safety of its products onto parents and kids.

“The onus to date has been falling on the parents and the children themselves,” Inman Grant says. “This law is the government making a very definitive statement and saying: We need to put the burden back on you, companies, just like we did with car manufacturers 60 years ago with seatbelts. And now, there’s so much lifesaving technology in our cars, like anti-lock brakes and airbags, that we take for granted. Back then, the car manufacturers pushed back, but now they compete on safety. This law is really aimed at making normative change.”

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