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Germany plans social media limits

14m

Germany’s federal government planned to restrict social media access for children under 13 on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, while age-verification methods remained unresolved.

Reposted by Daxton R. Stewart

5%
masnick.com
This is... a very bad ruling that doesn't even make sense on its own terms.
gabrielmalor.bsky.social Gabriel Malor @gabrielmalor.bsky.social · 8h
11th Cir. holds that Florida's ban on anyone under age 14 and anyone under 16 without parental consent from creating a social media account likely does not violate the First Amendment.

Judge Newsome writes a concurring op. agreeing with his maj. op.

media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...
First, HB3 is age delimited. It prohibits minors under 14 from creating accounts, id. § 501.1736(2)(a), and it requires 14- and 15-year-olds to obtain parental consent before doing so, id. § 501.1736(3)(a). Notably, it imposes no limitations for those 16 years of age and older. The law thus applies only to younger minors and recognizes the fine-grained distinctions even among those to whom it applies—namely, that 13-year-olds (in general, middleschoolers) are different from 14- and 15-year-olds (those starting high school), who, in turn, are different from those 16 and up (budding adults). Second, even among those to whom HB3 does apply, the law restricts only their ability to create their own accounts, not their ability to access social-media platforms per se. The creation of a social-media account is a commercial act—a business transaction. Even a minor—indeed, even a young child—may continue to use the platforms provided he either (1) uses his parents’ (or someone else’s) account or (2) gains access without an account.
October 14, 2026 at 8:48 PM

by Joanna Bryson

5%
j2bryson.bsky.social
So men who can’t handle women spend a lot of time on line, but women who can’t handle wait what were you asking the women if men’s rights had gone too far?
October 14, 2026 at 8:16 PM

Reposted by Anupam Chander

5%

Reposted by Ariadne Vromen

8%
techpolicypress.bsky.social
Social media bans are easy to explain and politically attractive, writes John Perrino of the Internet Society. He argues that implementing them has proven far more difficult, and that global policy trends show a more direct focus on safety by design.
The World’s Growing Patchwork of Age Bans and What It Reveals
Age bans are easy to explain and politically attractive, but implementing them, however, has proven far more difficult and controversial, writes John Perrino.
buff.ly
October 14, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Social Media: The dangers for children are simply too great

A good decision: Social media usage should be allowed only from age 13. Now it depends on the possibilities for age verification.

Social Media: The dangers for children are simply too great
Reposts 1 13h
Süddeutsche Zeitung
Youth protection: Rules for using social media are overdue

The government plans to restrict children's access to networks like Instagram and TikTok. That couldn't come soon enough.

Youth protection: Rules for using social media are overdue
Reposts 0 14h

by Will Jennings Reposted by Steven H. Seggie

36%
drjennings.bsky.social
In our book Trust in Crisis? (forthcoming) we find that higher social media use is correlated with lower political trust.
fgenovese.bsky.social Federica Genovese @fgenovese.bsky.social · 17h
young men (18-29) who spend >5 hours a day on social media are more likely to agree that advancing women’s and girls’ rights has gone too far than those who don’t use social media as much. no difference detected among young women.

@eurcorrespond.bsky.social
October 14, 2026 at 12:56 PM
Kathimerini
The tin-can freedom of networking

I suppose there are scientific parameters that place the possibility of joining social networks at 15. I also suppose that these will allow us to judge why a seventeen-year-old has the necessary maturity to protect themselves from the dangers of using the medium, and from the substitution of the interlocutor's physical presence by [. . . ]

Reposts 1 17h

by Federica Genovese

9%
fgenovese.bsky.social
also interesting that older women think that (descriptives only on show, one random draw here, yada yada)
October 14, 2026 at 9:49 AM

by Federica Genovese Reposted by Will Jennings

21%
fgenovese.bsky.social
young men (18-29) who spend >5 hours a day on social media are more likely to agree that advancing women’s and girls’ rights has gone too far than those who don’t use social media as much. no difference detected among young women.

@eurcorrespond.bsky.social
October 14, 2026 at 9:46 AM

Reposted by Benjamin Jones

3%
theguardian.com
My son killed himself after falling for an online scam. I heard it happen – and vowed to protect other children
My son killed himself after falling for an online scam. I heard it happen – and vowed to protect other children
Gavin Guffey was 17 when he was targeted by a ‘sextortionist’ on Instagram. His father Brandon has spent four years fighting for justice, and for social media companies to do more to safeguard young users
www.theguardian.com
October 14, 2026 at 4:52 AM
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