Age verification for social media is the right idea built the wrong way
This February, Spain announced plans for a comprehensive social media ban for children under 16. It was no longer acceptable, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told an audience at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, to leave children unattended in the “digital Wild West,” which he described as rife with “addiction, abuse, pornography, manipulation [and] violence.”
Sánchez was clear on another point. The proposed ban, which is still pending parliamentary approval, would require social media platforms to implement “not just check boxes, but real barriers that work” for age verification. The BBC suggested his comment may have been in reference to Australia’s ban, with its laxer checks already proving somewhat susceptible to loopholes.
Spain and Australia are not anomalies here. A range of legislation—some passed, some still being debated—in countries like Portugal, France, Denmark, Greece, and Ireland cover everything from raising age limits as high as 16 and tying access...
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