Summary
Governments worldwide are considering stricter age-verification laws for social media. In the U.S., this includes potential changes to existing rules to regulate the use of social media by those under 16. The ongoing legal actions against Meta are contributing to these discussions.
Key Facts
- Many countries, including Australia and Malaysia, have introduced laws banning social media use for those under 16.
- Europe is creating new standards to protect young users' privacy through age verification.
- A multistate lawsuit in the U.S. claims Meta does not effectively keep children under 13 off their platforms.
- The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is the only U.S. national rule, preventing data collection from children under 13 without parental consent.
- COPPA allows children under 13 to use social media but requires parental consent for data collection.
- Most social media platforms set a minimum age of 13 due to COPPA, but it does not cover children aged 13-15.
- Other countries are beginning to enforce stricter age-verification measures, including the use of government-issued IDs or video verification.
- The pressure to modernize U.S. rules is increasing as more nations adopt tougher regulations for social media age verification.
