Vietnam is looking to restrict social media for kids; here are the growing number of other countries doing the same
Vietnam's draft decree would let children under 16 keep social media accounts but block them from posting, commenting, or reacting, with parental registration required. The proposal joins a growing global wave of youth social media restrictions from Australia, France, and…
Intelligence analysis by Llama
Vietnam is considering a novel twist on youth social media bans: instead of blocking kids outright, under-16s would stay logged in but muted, with accounts registered to a parent. The plan is part of a rapidly expanding global push, led by Australia's December 2025 ban, to limit minors' exposure to social platforms.
Lots of grown-ups around the world are worried that kids spend too much time on apps like TikTok and Instagram, so some countries are passing laws to stop young people from using them. Vietnam has a different idea: let kids keep their accounts but take away the buttons that let them talk or react, like turning a TV on but taping over the remote's volume button.
Analysis
A Muted Compromise Instead of a Hard Switch
Vietnam's approach stands out from the pack precisely because it doesn't follow the template. Where Australia, France, and Greece are pursuing outright blocks for under-15 or under-16 users, the draft decree from Vietnam's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism would let minors keep their accounts but strip them of the ability to post, comment, or react. Deputy Culture Minister Phan Tam framed the goal as creating an age-appropriate environment rather than a prohibition, a distinction that lets the government avoid a full-blown confrontation with platforms while still answering parental anxiety about screen time, bullying, and exposure to predators.
The mechanism behind the proposal is heavy. Children's accounts would be registered to a parent who becomes responsible for monitoring the content the child accesses and time spent on the platforms. Platforms would also be required to deploy technical measures to identify which users are children and filter them into age-appropriate content streams. The article notes Vietnam is pairing this with a separate gaming restriction that would cap play for under-16 users at 60 minutes a day per game, using the same parental registration system.
A Global Tipping Point in 2025-2026
The article's country-by-country rundown makes clear this is no longer a fringe movement. Australia became the first to enforce an under-16 ban in December 2025, covering Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch, and Kick, with non-compliance penalties of up to $49.5 million AUD. France followed on July 21 with an under-15 law that could take effect September 1, and Denmark is aiming to enact its under-15 ban by mid-2026. Greece has set a January 2027 start date, while Canada, Austria, Poland, and Slovenia are all in various stages of drafting or debating similar legislation.
The geographic spread is notable: restrictions are moving through democracies across Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America simultaneously. Germany's case is illustrative of the friction involved, where Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives floated an under-16 ban but faced hesitation from coalition partners, showing that even where political will exists, consensus is not guaranteed.
Verification, Privacy, and the Enforcement Headache
Underpinning every one of these bans is the same unsolved problem: how do you reliably determine a user's age online? Australia's rule explicitly bars platforms from relying on self-declared age, forcing investment in document checks, behavioral signals, or third-party age-estimation services. Denmark is building a "digital evidence" app with age verification tools to support its ban, a model other governments may copy. Indonesia's approach, which names specific platforms like Roblox and Bigo Live alongside the usual suspects, hints at how regulators are starting to think about gaming and social spaces as a single category.
The article also surfaces the counter-arguments that will shadow every one of these rollouts. Critics including Amnesty Tech argue that blanket bans ignore how younger generations actually use the internet and push kids toward unmoderated corners. Privacy advocates have flagged the invasive data collection that effective age verification requires, a tension that will likely end up in courts and data protection authorities well before the bans themselves are fully implemented.
Key points
- Vietnam's draft decree would let under-16 users keep social media accounts but block posting, commenting, and reacting, requiring parental registration.
- Platforms would be required to identify child users and restrict them to age-appropriate content, with parents responsible for monitoring activity.
- Vietnam is separately considering a 60-minute-per-day gaming cap for under-16 users using the same parental registration system.
- Australia became the first country to enforce an under-16 social media ban in December 2025, with penalties up to $49.5 million AUD for non-compliant platforms.
- France passed an under-15 ban on July 21 that could take effect September 1, while Denmark aims to legislate by mid-2026 and Greece has set a January 2027 start date.
- Canada, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Malaysia, and Indonesia are all in various stages of drafting or debating similar restrictions, signaling a broad global policy shift.
If Vietnam's muted-account model works, it could offer a template that balances parental concern with children's desire to stay connected, potentially defusing political pressure for harder bans elsewhere. The broader trend, if it leads to genuine age-appropriate design and better mental health outcomes for minors, would represent a meaningful correction to the engagement-maximizing defaults that have defined social platforms for two decades.
The article surfaces real risks: privacy-invasive age verification could become mandatory infrastructure, and critics including Amnesty Tech argue that blanket bans simply push young users to less moderated corners of the internet. Platforms also face enormous compliance costs and the threat of multi-million-dollar fines, and inconsistent rules across jurisdictions may force them to build the most restrictive version for everyone, including adults.
