Global crackdown on social media aims to protect minors and could reshape advertising

The news: Governments worldwide are ramping up efforts to protect minors on social media, introducing strict age limits for teens and intensifying enforcement measures such as fines or potential bans. 

• Australia’s government proposed a landmark bill in parliament to ban children under 16 from social media, with fines up to AUD 50 million ($33.20 million) for social media companies’ noncompliance.
• The UK government is exploring a similar under-16 social media ban, citing concerns about harmful content and mental health impacts.

Social media’s minor reckoning: Social media firms earned $11 billion in 2023 from ads targeting minors, driven by advertisers’ demand for young audiences, per a Harvard study. A surge in regulation and bans on minors will likely alter global business models and challenge profits. Facebook and Instagram dominated in social media ad spending share for 2024, per Sensor Tower.

• The US Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) and the Children and Teens Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) in September—with bipartisan support.
• Texas filed a lawsuit against TikTok in October, accusing it of illegally sharing minors’ data, violating the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) and Deceptive Trade Practices Acts.
• TikTok also faces 14 separate lawsuits from US states over its algorithms.

Intensifying international pushback on social media: Led by the EU’s strict child safety measures in its Digital Services Act (DSA), Australia and the UK are pushing social media safeguards.

• In Australia, platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram have one year to implement age-verification systems, which could use biometrics to comply.
• The UK Online Safety Act (OSA) will impose heavy penalties on platforms failing to safeguard users from incidents including cyberbullying, hate speech, intimate image abuse, scam ads, or animal cruelty.

Our take: Mounting regulatory pushback could force advertisers in these regions to rethink strategies and consider the reduced reach and diminished ad revenues from minors. That could prompt a pivot toward older audiences.

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