Norway, Turkiye, Malaysia pursue social media age restriction

Norway plans to introduce age restrictions for social media platforms before the end of 2026. A release from the Norwegian government says it will present a new bill proposing an age threshold for using social media, with attendant requirements around biometric age assurance, to parliament this year, “and has decided that the age limit will apply from January 1st the year a child turns 16.”

“We are introducing this legislation because we want a childhood where children get to be children,” says Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. “Play, friendships, and everyday life must not be taken over by algorithms and screens. This is an important measure to safeguard children’s digital lives.”

Tying the age limit to January 1 on the year a user turns 16 is intended to ensure “entire school cohorts will gain access at the same time, and students will be at least 15 years old when access is granted.”

Minister for Children and Families Lene Vågslid says the government wants to ensure inclusion and a sense of community in executing its rules.” That is why we are proposing that the cutoff be based on the year of birth rather than the exact birth date, so that cohorts are given equal opportunities, regardless of when each person is born.”

Norway started cracking down on tech early, and the government says a drop in mobile phone and social media use among youth suggests “there are strong indications that measures such as national screen-time guidelines and recommendations for mobile-free schools have had an impact.”

Erdoğan cracks down on social media ‘cesspools’

Türkiye has passed legislation requiring kids to be at least 15 years old to use social media. A report in the New York Times says the government is framing the legislation as a way to protect children from virtual dangers including social media addiction, cyberbullying and commercial exploitation.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has publicly said “some digital-sharing applications have violated our children’s minds and social media platforms have, to put it bluntly, become cesspools.”

But there is concern that Erdoğan, who has increasingly steered Türkiye in an authoritarian direction in his eight years of rule, will use the law as an excuse to crack down on internet users.

Per the Times, the Turkish government has a history of prosecuting people for social media posts, and private companies have dismissed employees who have been detained for online comments. The country has repeatedly blocked access to YouTube and “effectively shut down Instagram and X during protests or after terrorist attacks.”

Türkiye’s plan does not include specifics on age assurance requirements or methods, or on which platforms are covered. Early word from Turkish officials is that the login process will “require the use of an online portal run by the government” – a potentially large problem in a country run by a leader that Index on Censorship christened its 2025 “tyrant of the year.”

Malaysia could introduce strict social media laws by June

Malaysia is moving to set its minimum age for social media at 16. The country’s children’s commissioner, Dr. Mohd Al Adib Samuri, tells Bernama that “different approaches may be needed based on age, risk level and type of platform. Higher-risk platforms can face stricter controls.”

Privacy and consumer advocates are calling for clarity on the law, and for a major push on digital literacy. But the government appears set to introduce the law as soon as June.

The trick to effective age assurance: enforcement that matters

Critics of online safety legislation that puts age restrictions on social media are wont to point out that banning kids from Meta platforms will just send them to worse alternatives. The problem, however, appears to be moot – at least according to Australian youth. An article in Fortune claims that most Australian teens admit the country’s so-called social media ban “isn’t working.”

“A survey of 1,050 Australians ages 12 to 15 conducted last month, the UK-based suicide prevention organization the Molly Rose Foundation found more than 60 percent of teens who had social media accounts before the ban still had access to at least one of those platforms. Social media sites including TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, have retained more than half of their users under 16. About two-thirds of young users say these platforms have taken ‘no action’ to remove or reactive accounts that existed before the restrictions.”

The social media ban isn’t working, then, because large platforms aren’t complying with it. A high-level problem for regulators is that, given the size and wealth of big social media companies and their billionaire owners, it will be difficult to impose any penalties or punitive measures that provide any real deterrent. In a recent piece for the Atlantic, TV and film creator Noah Hawley writes on what this kind of wealth means: “any asset can be acquired but nothing can ever be lost, because for soon-to-be trillionaires, no level of loss could significantly change their global standing or personal power.”

In the end, a few fines will not bother Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk at all. This suggests that, while the legislation is taking shape, the next major challenge for regulatory enforcement bodies around the world is to find ways to make their consequences matter to men who have grown rich beyond failure.

Article Topics

age verification  |  Australia  |  biometrics  |  Malaysia  |  Norway  |  regulation  |  social media  |  Turkiye