Research & Insights specialist, Kids Know Best has reported that Spain has announced plans to ban social media for under 16-s. The country’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, said that platforms should bring in strong age checks and that children should be protected from harmful online content.
It comes after Australia’s government brought in a social media ban for under-16s in December last year, and the UK government says it is also looking into proposals for a ban for under-16s too. The House of Lords voted in favour of banning under-16 last month from social media, adding pressure on the UK government to match a similar ban to that in Australia.
Last week the Education Secretary told schools that it is “not appropriate for phones to be used as calculators, or for researching during lessons”.
The UK guidance also says teachers should avoid sing their own phones in front of pupils too.
Other European countries such as Denmark and Greece have also announced that they are considering their own national age limits for social media, and French politicians have stated that if the plan does become law, that it could come into effect as soon as 1 September 2026 for the start of school term.
Under the new rules, the French body in charge of overseeing the media would put together a list of social media networks that are thought to be harmful, and these would be banned completely for under 15-year olds. As well as this, a separate list of ‘less harmful’ sites would be useable by under-15s, but only with parental approval. Another part of the bill would ban the use of mobile phones in senior schools. There is already a ban in place in junior and middle schools in France.
And in Malaysia, leaders have also said that they plan to ban under-16s from having open social media accounts, with new rules planned for 2026.
