Hopping the fence: The failures of social media bans

There is growing global momentum toward mandatory age verification and stricter internet safety regulations. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 56 percent of American adults support banning minors under 16 from social media. That policy is included in the Democrats’ “Kids over Clicks” proposal as part of Project 2029. Australia has already implemented such restrictions, with the UK set to follow in the spring of 2027. The EU is still discussing what actions it will take, but most global leaders seem to agree on the need to restrict and regulate minors’ online activity.

Excluding children from social media platforms requires checking the age of all users. Project 2029’s proposal would mandate verification at the moment of account creation, raising significant First Amendment concerns. In Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the Supreme Court ruled that age verification for online adult content does not violate free-speech rights. The Court applied intermediate scrutiny because the Texas law in question targets only pornography sites. Applying the same standard to social media or general-purpose platforms presents an entirely different set of First Amendment problems.

There are various methods to assess a user’s age. Age gating and screening involve asking a user to self-attest to their age by checking a box or inputting their birth date. Age estimation methods include profiling online activity history and scanning facial images. Age verification uses government-issued identification to confirm a user’s age.

Age-assurance mandates can create privacy risks. Forcing users to upload a government ID undermines anonymity for users and creates a large honeypot of sensitive data often linked to users’ email addresses, phone numbers, and social media accounts. Furthermore, users of all ages could lose access to important content ranging from political and health information to educational materials if they are misidentified or discouraged from submitting an ID.

The US House of Representatives passed the Kids Internet and Digital Safety (KIDS) Act (H.R. 7757) last month. The bill would mandate new limits to children’s online access, including utilizing age estimation. Although this method is less overt, its reliance on collecting sensitive data is still highly invasive. These technologies have also proven to be ineffective. Not only can facial scans be circumvented, but they also misidentify certain groups. When estimation proves to be inaccurate, platforms will likely turn to actual verification as a shield from legal liabilities.

Australia saw these failures after implementing its social media ban, and now the country is seeking to combat those shortcomings by raising fines. The Australian eSafety Commissioner issued a compliance update finding that, “seven in 10 children who held accounts on restricted platforms … remained on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.” Despite increasing efforts to block children from social media platforms, minors can find ways to subvert restrictions, occasionally utilizing much more dangerous means. Some Australian youth have turned to VPNs to bypass age restrictions. These free VPNs can have questionable data collection practices, raising concerns about children using the services. Minors banned from platforms may also be incentivized to find unregulated, offshore platforms not bound by the law.

Ultimately, the only way platforms may avoid liability is through age verification. Yet, compelling companies, either directly or indirectly, to use this method has already led to massive data leaks. For example, a Discord data breach in late 2025 resulted in the theft of roughly 2 million images of government-issued IDs. Even when implemented voluntarily, these platforms are susceptible to hacks. A popular dating advice platform meant for women’s safety (the Tea app) suffered a large data leak of 1.1 million private logs, locations, and phone numbers.

Simply banning youth from platforms produces an ill-equipped younger generation unable to manage the content they see. Instead, increasing media literacy and promoting emotional self-regulation strategies would better alleviate the problems that prompted the ban. There are many benefits to utilizing social media. Teaching kids how to use the web properly should be a part of any strategy for protecting kids online.

The United States should not follow in the footsteps of the UK and Australia. Those countries face entirely new problems stemming from kids subverting online restrictions. Domestically, state and federal laws compelling companies to identify and restrict underage accounts have already increased the demand for circumvention tools and unregulated sites. The United States has a choice: continue with reactionary, heavy-handed mandates or embrace practical solutions that respect parental autonomy and general privacy.