On October 23, Greece’s parliament voted to keep children under 15 off social media, starting January 1, 2027. According to Reuters, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave the platforms about two and a half months to come up with a way to check users’ ages while protecting their privacy.

Greece is the latest country to pass a social media ban for kids. Australia’s under-16 law is already in force, and Norway plans one. That leaves families with a fair question: should a house rule wait for a law?

We don’t think it should. A law can change what Instagram and TikTok are required to do. It has no say over a group chat at 10:30 on a school night, the phone on the nightstand, or the conversation after your kid sees something upsetting. Those calls belong to your family, and we think the rule most likely to hold is one your kid helped write, not one announced over dinner.

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Which countries are banning social media for kids, and where the U.S. stands

Australia went first. Its under-16 law took effect in December 2025 and covers Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube and Twitch. Messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are exempt. The fines, up to 49.5 million Australian dollars, fall on platforms that fail to take reasonable steps to remove underage accounts. After the law took effect, 10 platforms reported about 4.7 million accounts deactivated or restricted, ABC7 reported.

Greece passed its under-15 ban in October, and it takes effect January 1, 2027.

Norway announced in April that it would bring a bill to parliament by the end of 2026 to keep children off social media until they turn 16, with tech companies responsible for checking ages, according to Reuters. Not every attempt has stuck: a similar French law was struck down by France’s Constitutional Council in August.

The United States has no national ban. In June, the House passed a children’s online safety package, the KIDS Act, by a vote of 267 to 117. It includes a version of the Kids Online Safety Act, which would require protective default settings and parental controls for minors, but no ban. Its chances in the Senate looked slim this summer, Tech Policy Press reported.

States have moved faster, and courts have pushed back. By October 2025, eight states had passed laws banning minors from social media or requiring parental consent for accounts. Courts permanently blocked the laws in Arkansas and Ohio on First Amendment grounds, paused others, and let Mississippi’s take effect while the case continues, MultiState found. In February 2026, a federal judge blocked Virginia’s law limiting users under 16 to one hour a day, DLA Piper’s summary explains.

What the bans do, and what they leave to you

In Australia, platforms can ask for ID, use third-party facial age estimation, or infer age from data they already have, such as how long an account has existed.

Some young users told reporters they fooled the age checks or got help from parents or older siblings. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner said downloads of alternative apps spiked, though use of those apps did not. Meta pointed out that kids can still browse platforms without an account and see content picked by an algorithm.

We like that these laws put the cost on companies instead of on kids or parents. But Australia’s ban covers accounts on a list of named apps. It doesn’t cover messaging apps, a shared family tablet, or a friend’s phone. Your family still needs its own rule, whatever your government decides.

What pediatricians and the Surgeon General actually say about social media

According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory on social media and youth mental health, up to 95% of teens ages 13 to 17 use a social media platform, and about a third say they use it “almost constantly.” Kids who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of poor mental health outcomes, including symptoms of depression and anxiety. The advisory concludes there isn’t enough evidence to say social media is sufficiently safe for kids and teens.

The full advisory covers benefits, too. It notes that social media can give young people community with others who share their identities, abilities and interests, and that LGBTQ+ youth can find peer connection and support there. One of its recommendations for families is to create a family media plan, because “agreed-upon expectations can help establish healthy technology boundaries at home.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics points in the same direction. Its Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health runs a Q&A portal where parents and teens can send in questions. Its tip sheet for families on building healthy digital habits says plainly: “Work together to set rules about social media use.” And the AAP’s new media recommendations, released in January 2026, ask families to make a Family Media Plan, model healthy habits, and keep some time and places free of devices, such as the car, dinner, or weekends.

Some families go further. Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, asks parents to commit to no smartphone before 14 and no social media before 16, as he said at the World Economic Forum’s 2025 meeting in Davos. If your family makes a different call, that still fits the AAP’s advice to set rules together, as long as you make the call on purpose.

How to build a family media agreement your kid helps write

Both the Surgeon General and the AAP use words like “agreed-upon” and “together.” If your kid argued for a rule, and won or lost a few points along the way, they can explain why it exists, and in our view that makes it easier to keep.

Pick a calm evening, not the night after a fight about the phone. Start by asking what your kid likes about the apps and how they feel when they use them. Both questions come from the AAP’s tip sheet. Then let each person at the table, adults included, propose one rule for themselves.

Write it down, so nobody has to rely on memory later about who agreed to what. The AAP’s Family Media Plan at healthychildren.org builds a personalized plan for how your family uses all kinds of media. Fill it out with your kid next to you. Put a review date on it, so the agreement can change as your kid grows.

Under 10. U.S. social media platforms commonly set 13 as the minimum age, tied to a federal privacy law, so the question here is less about accounts and more about habits. Choose shows and games together, keep devices in shared rooms, and agree on screen-free meals. For more, see our guide to reducing screen time for kids.

10 to 12. According to the Surgeon General’s advisory, nearly 40% of kids ages 8 to 12 already use social media, so start the conversation before a classmate starts it for you. Talk about who your kid can chat with online, what a group chat should feel like, and what to do when something feels off.

13 to 15. If accounts are part of the agreement, set them up together with the most secure privacy settings. Agree on do-not-disturb hours and a screen-free bedtime. Practice spotting edited photos, fake content and ads. If the questions at this stage feel harder than the toddler years, read why parenting doesn’t get easier as kids get older.

16 and up. Let your teen write more of the agreement. Shift your role toward coaching, with the goal of a young adult who can set their own limits. It helps to know where helping your kids turns into holding them back.

What to do if your kid already has social media accounts

If your kid already has accounts, you don’t need to start with deleting them. Ask them to show you around: which apps they use most, who they follow, and what they wish were different.

Then check settings together. Switch to the most secure privacy settings, limit who can message them, and turn off notifications overnight. If your kid is under a platform’s minimum age, or under a new legal age where you live, talk about pausing the account rather than taking it away without warning.

Keep checking in, since new apps, friends and group chats can change what your kid runs into online. The AAP’s tip sheet lists signs to watch for, including pulling away from social activities, or screen time getting in the way of sleep, eating or physical activity. Make sure your kid knows they can come to you about anything that happens online without losing their phone for telling you. This article isn’t medical advice. If you’re worried about your child’s mental health, call your pediatrician.

If you want one book for this stage, Devorah Heitner’s Growing Up in Public is about raising kids whose lives are partly online. Her core idea, in the publisher’s words, is “mentoring, not monitoring,” and it fits the kind of agreement we’re describing here.

Is there a social media ban for kids in the U.S.?

No. There is no federal ban. Several states have passed age limits or parental consent laws, but courts have blocked or paused many of them on First Amendment grounds, so the rules depend on your state.

What age does the AAP recommend for social media?

The AAP’s 2026 media recommendations don’t name a single starting age. They focus on making a Family Media Plan, modeling healthy habits, and keeping some times and places device-free. According to the Surgeon General’s advisory, 13 is the minimum age commonly used by U.S. platforms.

An agreement on your fridge, in your kid’s handwriting next to yours, can start this week. Pick a calm night, bring snacks, and let your kid go first.

If you know a parent whose kid is asking for a first phone this holiday season, send this their way.

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