Looking at the regulatory news for June, it is pretty apparent that solving age is becoming a tougher challenge as time goes on:

We saw more social media delays: Canada introduced one, Malaysia began enforcing its, and the UAE and Japan moved too. It looks like 16 is the new 13.

Age verification mandates continue to blink on and off from place to place as laws pass and then draw legal challenges. In June, one court cleared Ohio’s law, another blocked Nebraska’s, and the EU’s top court allowed cross-border age checks with conditions.

We’re seeing various solutions roll out to try and help, and they are multiplying at every layer of the stack — Apple handed developers age APIs, Google built age credentials into Wallet, Denmark shipped a national ID wallet.

The developer’s problem is no longer which method to trust — it’s how to accept, reconcile, and resolve conflicts between dozens of age signals across markets and distribution platforms (which explains the popularity of the platform age signal module of the CDK at the moment).

A side note I’d flag is that there’s one category of app that is being regulated even more broadly, and at a faster speed, than social media: AI. AI-companion laws are being signed much faster than it took social media laws to change. Connecticut signed one into law, New York passed another, and the UK’s ban reached over to cover chatbots too.

Social Media Ban Bingo

• 🇦🇺 Australia — The government introduced a bill doubling maximum penalties to A$99 million and giving the eSafety Commissioner stronger powers to enforce its under-16 social media rule.

• 🇨🇦 Canada — The government introduced Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, which proposes a minimum age of 16 for social media accounts.

• 🇲🇾 Malaysia — Regulators began enforcing a new under-16 social media age rule under the Child Protection Code on 1 June.

• 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates — The Cabinet issued a resolution barring children under 15 from holding personal social media accounts.

• 🇯🇵 Japan — The communications ministry proposed stronger age checks for minors on social media, but stopped short of a blanket age limit.

• 🇵🇭 Philippines — Deputy Speaker David Suarez filed the Digital Safety of Minors Act (HB 9825), which would require age checks and safer default settings for under-18s.

• 🇬🇧 United Kingdom — The science and innovation department published survey data: 89% of parents back a legal minimum age for social media, and 96% want it set at 16 or older.

• 🇬🇧 United Kingdom — The government announced a statutory under-16 social media ban and an 18+ requirement for “romantic” AI companion chatbots, targeted to take effect in spring 2027.

For 13+ Apps

• 🇺🇸 US (Federal) — The US House announced a bipartisan kids’ online safety package, the KIDS Act, combining the Kids Online Safety Act and COPPA 2.0.

• 🇺🇸 US (Texas) — The Fifth Circuit stayed the injunction blocking SB 2420, the App Store Accountability Act, letting its age-verification and parental-consent rules take effect.

• 🇺🇸 US (Nebraska) — A federal judge blocked the age-verification and parental-consent parts of Nebraska’s LB 383 on First Amendment grounds, leaving its parental-activity-log rule in place.

• 🇺🇸 US (Illinois) — The legislature passed HB 5511, the Children’s Online Social Media Safety Act, mandating device-level age verification and default protections for minors.

Gaming

• 🇧🇷 Brazil — A Brazilian court ordered a group of technology and game companies to pay a combined R$298 million over loot boxes aimed at children.

• 🇵🇭 Philippines — The government’s cybercrime body temporarily blocked the game GoreBox after a suspect in a school shooting was found to have played it.

Age Verification

• 🇪🇺 European Union — The EU’s top court ruled that a country may require age checks on adult websites based in other member states, under certain conditions.

• 🇮🇪 Ireland — Ireland named children’s online safety and age checks a priority for its EU Council presidency, which begins on 1 July.

• 🇩🇰 Denmark — The government released AltID, a digital wallet that lets people prove their age and identity from a phone.

• 🇺🇸 US (Ohio) — A federal appeals court reversed a block on Ohio’s law requiring parental consent for under-16s on social media, letting it take effect.

• 🇺🇸 US (Texas) — Apple made age-range and parental-consent APIs available to developers as Texas’s app store age-assurance law (SB 2420) took effect on 4 June.

• 🇬🇧 United Kingdom — Ofcom fined First Time Videos LLC £80,000 under the Online Safety Act for failing to use effective age assurance to keep children off pornographic content.

Parental Consent

• 📱 Apple — Apple previewed new child-safety features and parental controls coming to iPhone, iPad, and Mac this autumn.

• 🇪🇺 European Union — The European Parliament’s research service published a briefing on the debate over setting a minimum age for social media.

• 📰 Meta — Meta rolled out 13+ content settings and AI-based age detection across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger Teen Accounts.

Content Moderation

• 🇺🇸 US (California) — A judge denied motions to overturn a $6 million verdict that found Instagram and YouTube liable for social media addiction harm suffered as a child.

• 🇺🇸 US (Texas) — Tech-industry group CCIA asked the Supreme Court to block Texas’s app store age-check law on First Amendment grounds.

• 🇨🇦 Canada — The Privacy Commissioner found X Corp. and xAI violated PIPEDA over Grok-generated sexualized deepfakes, including of children, with the companies agreeing to audits.

• 🇪🇺 European Union — Member-state ambassadors agreed to revive the lapsed temporary derogation letting messaging services voluntarily scan for child sexual abuse material.

Online Safety

• 🌐 G7 — G7 leaders and partner countries issued a Leaders’ Call for a safer digital space for minors, with effective age assurance at its core.

• 🇪🇺🇧🇷 European Union & Brazil — The European Commission and Brazil’s data authority signed an agreement to cooperate on protecting minors online.

• 🇺🇸 US (Arkansas) — The state attorney general sued Roblox and Discord, alleging their features exposed minors to predators.

• 🇺🇸 US (Arkansas) — The attorney general also sued Snap, alleging deceptive practices and harm to minors’ wellbeing.

• 🇺🇸 US (Florida) — Florida and Roku announced a settlement under which Roku will strengthen child-protection and parental controls, backed by about $25 million in engineering.

AI

• 🇬🇧 United Kingdom — Ofcom published its strategy for AI, setting out how it will support safe AI use across the industries it regulates.

• 🇺🇸 US (New York) — The legislature passed the Kids Chatbot Safety Act (S9051B), restricting AI companion chatbots for minors, with penalties up to $25,000 per violation.

• 🇺🇸 US (Connecticut) — The governor signed SB 5 (Public Act 26-15), requiring AI companion chatbots to block self-harm content and romantic or explicit interactions with minors.

Marketing

• 🇪🇸🇧🇪 Spain & Belgium — The Spanish and Belgian data authorities published the first European guidance on data protection in video games.

• 🇪🇺 European Union — Google announced it will add digital ID and age-verification credentials to Google Wallet in parts of the EU this summer.

Market Insights