According to Engadget, Denmark’s government announced Friday that lawmakers across the political spectrum have agreed to ban social media for anyone under 15 years old. The Digitalization Ministry will set the minimum age at 15 for certain platforms, though they haven’t specified which ones would be affected. The government also didn’t share how enforcement would actually work. Digitalization Minister Caroline Stage said Danish authorities are “finally drawing a line in the sand” against social media’s negative effects on children. This follows the UK’s upcoming December ban on social media for children under 16, which will require platforms to use age-verification technology.
The enforcement problem nobody’s solved
Here’s the thing: announcing a ban is easy. Actually enforcing it? That’s where things get messy. The UK’s approach of requiring age verification through facial recognition or ID uploads has faced massive privacy concerns. And we’re talking about minors’ data here – that’s an even bigger minefield. How exactly does Denmark plan to verify ages without creating a surveillance nightmare? They haven’t said. Meanwhile, platforms themselves have every incentive to look the other way when young users sign up. Engagement is engagement, after all.
This is becoming a global movement
Denmark isn’t operating in a vacuum. Look at what’s happening worldwide: Florida passed a social media ban that’s currently tied up in courts. Utah requires parental consent for teen accounts. Texas nearly passed its own restrictions. There’s clearly growing political momentum to regulate kids’ access to these platforms. But here’s what fascinates me: we’re seeing completely different approaches across countries and even US states. Some want outright bans, others want parental controls, and nobody can agree on what age is appropriate. It’s basically the digital equivalent of everyone trying to build the same car with different blueprints.
Where should the line be drawn?
So who should decide when kids get social media access – parents or governments? That’s the billion-dollar question nobody can agree on. On one hand, you’ve got legitimate concerns about sleep disruption, concentration issues, and digital peer pressure that ministers are citing. But on the other, is this government overreach into family decisions? I can’t help but wonder if we’re treating symptoms rather than causes. Instead of just blocking access, shouldn’t we be pushing for better digital literacy education and platform design that doesn’t exploit developing brains? The conversation is definitely heating up, and Denmark’s move will likely inspire similar debates in other countries considering their own restrictions.
