Spain joins Australia to ban teens from using social media, could India be next?

On Tuesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that the country will ban users under the age of 16 from all social media. This move comes at a time when more countries are considering joining Australia in banning teenagers from these platforms. But could India join this list?

Spain is expected to pass legislation banning teens from social media as early as next week. This would make it the first European country to implement such a ban. However, according to Reuters, Greece may also be planning a similar ban soon.

Why are countries banning teens from social media?

Countries are becoming increasingly aware of the potential ill-effects of social media usage for children. Various governments, including the UK, Denmark, and Malaysia want to protect children from being exposed to cyberbullying, eating disorder content, or posts promoting self-harm on social media, to name a few. India too, is acknowledging the potential impact of digital addiction, but more on that later.

There are also concerns surrounding digital addiction, and AI-generated child abuse content. Last month, X’s Grok chatbot was said to have undressed millions of people on the platform without their consent.

What countries can learn from Australia

Australia was the first country to entirely ban social media platforms for users under 16. The law was passed in December last year. Once this ban took effect, platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, X, Snapchat, were mandated to deactivate accounts belonging to users under 16 and implement robust age-verification technology.

Companies that fail to comply face hefty fines. Within weeks, nearly 5 million underage accounts were reportedly deactivated in Australia. Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, reported removing 550,000 suspected under-16 accounts in Australia. However, the company urged a reconsideration of the ban, stating, "We call on the Australian government to engage with industry constructively to find a better way forward... instead of blanket bans."

Could India be next?

The conversation about curbing youth social media use is also gaining momentum in India. The Economic Survey 2025-2026 flagged digital addiction as a growing problem among children and teenagers. The report stated that the growing prevalence of digital addiction undermines cognitive and social development, similar to obesity and inadequate nutrition threatening physical health. The Survey called on the government to consider age-based limits for social media use and ads targeting children.

Some Indian states are already considering such a ban for teenagers. Last month, Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh, revealed that the state government was considering banning all users under the age of 16 from social media platforms, akin to Australia’s blanket ban.

The Madras High Court also suggested the Government of India consider a similar ban. Though, so far, we have not heard anything on such a possibility just yet.