Photo: Courtesy of Tsinghua University's Center for Intelligent Media Studies

As the management of adolescence's social media usage becomes a global challenge, Tsinghua University's Center for Intelligent Media Studies on Monday issued a "Research Report on social Media Regulation for Minors in Multiple Countries Globally," which found that blanket ban on social media use is infeasible in practice and could lead to unexpected new problems, while the China approach balancing protection and development provides inspiration. 

The research report categorized global social media management into three types: the complete ban on users under certain age plus parents' consent model, as represented by Australia and Indonesia; requiring platforms incorporation minor protection in product design and conducting risk assessment, as represented by the UK and the European Union; and the differentiated management based on user age, content attributes and platform risks, as represented by Germany and France, the Global Times learned from the center.   

The report did a specific case study on Australia, which passed a law in 2024 which stipulated that children under the age of 16 are prevented from 10 key social media platforms since December 10, 2025.

Per BBC on June 27, the Australian government has announced it will double the maximum penalty for breaches of the nation's social media minimum age law to $99 million.

But it has been widely acknowledged that many are still able to access and use the banned apps, BBC reported.

The Tsinghua report found it has become prevalent for minors to bypass restrictions by using their parents' accounts, falsifying personal age information, or accessing networks via VPNs, indicating that age thresholds fail to substantially curb underage social media usage.

After the ban took effect, VPN downloads surged nearly threefold, and alternative platforms such as Lemon8 and Yope climbed rapidly on Australia's app rankings, with nearly half of Yope's users aged 16 and below. Meanwhile, the usage of WhatsApp also saw a slight increase. These phenomena demonstrate that minors' social media demands have not been eliminated, but have merely shifted to less regulated online spaces that are even more difficult to supervise, according to the report.

Analysis of 42,700 online comments related to the policy and a survey on more than 1,000 local Australians found that more than 60 percent online feedbacks are negative; only 39.2 percent of the surveyed are aware of the concrete contents of the policy and only 18.5 percent believe the ban works well. 

The report concluded that risks concerning minors' online engagement stem from the overlapping effects of multiple factors including platform mechanisms, content ecosystems, as well as family and school education. 

A one-size-fits-all ban is not an effective governance approach, and a global consensus has gradually emerged in favor of refined and categorized regulation. China has established a comprehensive minor online protection system centered on the Minor Network Protection Regulations, covering anti-addiction mechanisms, age-specific minor modes, and real-name registration for online platforms, said Jiang Qiaolei, professor and associate Chair of the school board at Tsinghua University's School of Journalism and Communication, when she delivers the research report. 

This systemic approach is aligned with the global trend of tailored and targeted management of social media for minor protection purposes, Jiang said. 

Scholars attending the Monday symposium also shared the consensus that government ban or legislation alone cannot solve the complexity of social media management, and the joint efforts of authorities, family and platforms are needed to streamline the management. 

Global Times