Following Australia's recent law restricting social media access to users 16 and older, Europe is now considering similar legislation. This signals a potential worldwide regulatory shift towards stricter age-gating, which could fundamentally alter user acquisition and marketing strategies for platforms and teen-focused brands.

Roblox's stock plummeted after it lost 12 million users, not from declining popularity, but from strictly enforcing its 13+ age policy via selfie video verification. This highlights the direct financial conflict platforms face between maximizing user growth metrics and responsibly implementing safety and compliance measures.

The problem with AI-generated non-consensual imagery is the act of its creation, regardless of the creator's age. Applying age verification as a fix misses the core issue and wrongly shifts focus from the platform's fundamental responsibility to the user's identity.

The ban on social media for under-16s in Australia, intended to protect mental health, is reportedly causing increased feelings of isolation among some teens. They argue that these platforms are integral to their social lives, and being cut off from peers is more harmful than the risks the ban aims to prevent.

Former Meta exec Nick Clegg warns that AI's intimate nature means any failure to protect minors from adult content will trigger a societal backlash far larger than what social media faced. The technology for reliable age verification is not yet mature enough for this risk.

Traditional identity methods like government IDs, "web of trust" social graphs, and facial biometrics are inadequate for a global proof of human system. They fail on scalability, privacy, or vulnerability to sophisticated AI that can mimic human behavior and create fake trust networks.

A major criticism of age-gating bans, like Australia's, is that they allow platforms to abdicate responsibility for child safety. Platforms can argue that since young people are not supposed to be on their sites, there is less impetus to invest in making them safer, shifting the onus entirely to enforcement rather than platform design.

The push for age verification on platforms like Meta, aimed at protecting minors, forces all users to prove their age. This creates a significant trade-off, potentially eliminating online anonymity for everyone as an unintended consequence of child safety measures.

The UK's ban on social media for under-16s, requiring system-level ID checks, is framed as child protection. However, the real goal is often to eliminate online anonymity and monitor adult speech, extending government control.