Austria’s government has approved amendments to its audiovisual media law that will ban children under 14 from using social media and require pornographic websites to verify users’ age through a digital identity card (ID Austria) from next year, according to Der Spiegel. Separately, Google announced it will make its Play Age Signals API, a tool allowing app developers to identify underage users and tailor safety features without accessing personal data, available worldwide by the end of 2026, rolling it out first in Australia and Canada by mid-August. The twin moves represent a sharp escalation in the global campaign to protect minors online.

The Austrian law, which enters force subject to public consultation until mid-September and EU Commission review, compels social media platforms to remove ‘addictive’ elements harmful to mental health and threatens fines of up to 6 per cent of global turnover for large non-compliant platforms. In France, the digital regulator Arcom has launched its largest-ever enforcement drive, initiating proceedings against 31 porn sites that lack proper age verification as required since January 2025; it has ordered internet providers to block 13 of them within 48 hours and triggered EU-level cooperation against 13 more. The French parliament has also voted to ban access to social networks for under-15s, while Britain’s government plans to present a bill prohibiting access for under-16s. Supporters of such restrictions, including therapist Shadi Ramez quoted by BBC Persian, argue that social media acts like a ‘toxic substance’ on the developing brain, with its frontal lobe – crucial for social relations and emotional regulation – not fully maturing until around 25.

In the United Arab Emirates, a cabinet decision (No. 106 of 2026) has established a framework to regulate children’s access to social media platforms, with experts hailing it as a proactive step for digital safety. The chairman of the UAE’s National Media Authority, Abdullah Al Hamed, discussed child protection and responsible AI use with Snapchat executives in London, stressing that ‘building a safe and responsible digital space is a strategic priority.’ Google’s API, first deployed in Brazil to meet the requirements of the Digital Child and Adolescent Statute, allows parents to share only an age range, preserving privacy while enabling apps to implement appropriate safeguards.

Yet Australia’s pioneering 2025 ban on under-16s’ social media use has shown the limits of such legislation: research indicates up to 85 per cent of teenagers bypass age restrictions by lying about their birth year, using adults’ accounts or VPNs. Cybersecurity experts have also warned that mandatory age verification risks centralising sensitive personal data, creating new privacy and censorship threats. Still, official French data show that time spent by minors on pornographic sites has fallen by nearly a third since the ban took effect. With Austria’s rules likely to take effect by April 1 and Google’s global rollout accelerating, the transatlantic push to build age-gated digital spaces is set to reshape the internet for the youngest users.