Only China has succeeded with age limits in social media

It shows one review from Klassekampen of other countries’ attempts to introduce age restrictions in social media.

In Norway, several people have advocated an age limit for social media, enforced through BankID. Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) has expressed concern that children are exposed to harmful content.

– We must get an age limit that we can enforce. And we have to get stricter regulation of functionality and content that is obviously harmful to children, he recently told NRK.

Støre did not say anything regarding which technical solution would be used to enforce the age limit.

In 2023 Australian Government report which examined the introduction of age-verifying technology worldwide, shows that no country in the world has successfully implemented age-verifying technology.

But China has introduced strict age restrictions on social media and the internet. Children under the age of eight can only use smartphones for 40 minutes each day, and different age groups have different time quotas. The law is enforced through two-step verification that adjusts the device according to the user’s age. Some still circumvent the age limits by using older family members’ accounts.

Although China’s system is effective, it is based on extensive digital identification that also censors speech and collects personal data.