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Governments are poised to fall like dominoes as the United Kingdom rolls out its social media ban on minors.
Following in the footsteps of Australia, some of the biggest companies around the globe will have to enforce new guardrails that ensure anyone under the age of 16 won't be able to access their social media platforms in the UK.
Many praised Australia as the first country in the world to initiate a social media ban for under-16s, and while the United Kingdom suggested it would follow suit, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's ban has come into action far quicker than many expected.
With this, everything from Facebook to Instagram, Snapchat to TikTok will have to keep under-16s off their platforms or face much more than a slap on the wrist. Even though WhatsApp and Signal have escaped on a technicality as they're classed as messaging apps rather than social media, the rest will have to fall in line.
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In a passionate speech about the state of the world, Starmer explained why he was powering ahead with a social media ban for under-16s, telling the UK's citizens and the rest of the world: "Social media is making our children unhappy and unsafe, and as a parent, as much as a Prime Minister, I just can't let that go on anymore."
Going beyond your typical social media apps, the world of gaming will also be affected as the likes of Fortnite and Roblox have to overhaul the way they work.
As an extension of the Online Safety Act, Ofcom can levy substantial global turnover fines against companies that don't enforce the under-16s ban.
An explainer on the Online Safety Act reminds us that those fines can reach up to £18 million ($24 million) or 10% of a company's qualifying worldwide revenue. The Online Safety Act targets whichever is greater, which could prove costly for a company that lets under-16s slip through the net. Considering financials suggest 10% of Meta's qualifying global turnover could be £15.8 billion ($20.096 billion), this isn't exactly small change for anyone.
More than this, criminal action can be taken against senior managers, and in the most extreme cases, Ofcom could require payment providers, advertisers, and internet service providers to stop working with a company.
In this scenario, it could stop generating money or even be accessible in the UK.
Taking things even further than Australia, the UK's ban also covers platforms offering livestreaming, meaning the likes of Discord and Twitch will also be hit, while chatbots that offer romantic companionship will be banned for anyone under the age of 18.
It's unclear how exactly Ofcom will monitor someone's age, although it has until October to decide what kind of 'highly effective' age verification it'll go with. The current version of the Online Safety Act imposes a limit on under-18s for content like pornography (leading to the infamous Pornhub scandal), and again, facial-scanning technology could be used. This has proved somewhat ineffective in Australia, with some kids drawing mustaches on their face to bypass this tech.
Those over the age of 16 will have to verify their age if they want to keep using their accounts, although those who've had one for more than 16 years or have a linked credit card aren't expected to be checked.
Elsewhere, Apple and Google's operating systems could make the necessary checks at a device level, as something that's been championed for a while.
In the UK, officials are also looking at clamping down on VPNs, which have spiked in popularity and have been able to bypass checks by disguising a user's location.
The UK government said these restrictions will be on by default for 17-year-olds to prevent a cliff-edge at 16, with plans to look into overnight curfews and how to break infinite scrolling for anyone under the age of 18. More details are expected to be laid out in July, so there isn't long to wait until things become clear.
