Teen social media bans spread despite limited evidence | #childpredator | #onlinepredator | #sextrafficing

(CN) — Countries around the world are moving to block teenagers from social media amid growing fears over youth mental health, but researchers say there is little evidence the bans actually improve wellbeing.

Australia banned social media accounts for children under 16 in December 2025, and countries including France, Denmark, Canada and the United Kingdom are considering similar restrictions.

Supporters of the measures argue research has linked social media use to anxiety, depression and other mental health problems among adolescents.

But researchers in new review of experimental studies published Thursday in Frontiers in Developmental Psychology found little direct evidence showing social media bans improve teenagers’ wellbeing.

They say no experimental studies have tested the effects of social media restrictions on children under 16, which the group most often targeted by the bans.

Monika Neff Lind, of the University of California Irvine and study co-author, said she would welcome strong evidence showing the bans improve wellbeing, but researchers have not found that evidence.

“As a clinical psychologist and parent, I would be thrilled if this were true, but it is not,” Lind said in a press release.

The review examined experiments in which participants were instructed to reduce or stop using social media while researchers tracked changes in wellbeing.

In those studies, participants are typically divided into groups, with one restricting social media use and another continuing normal use for comparison.

Researchers found no experiments involving children under 16. Studies involving adults also produced mixed results, with roughly 40% showing either no improvements or harmful effects such as increased loneliness and lower life satisfaction after restricting social media use, according to the analysis.

“Social media use is one of the least influential factors in healthy adolescent development,” Lind wrote in an email.

The study pushes back on increasingly common claims from politicians that science clearly supports youth social media bans.

French President Emmanuel Macron has said banning social media for children under 15 is “what scientists recommend,” while U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, sponsor of the Kids Off Social Media Act, has argued reducing social media exposure improves mental health.

Researchers say the evidence is far less conclusive than many policymakers suggest.

They also warned that enforcing social media bans could create new problems, particularly for marginalized groups. Technologies used to estimate age from uploaded selfies, for example, can be less accurate for young faces and people of color, the analysis said.

The restrictions could also cut teenagers off from important social connections and information, researchers wrote, as schools, clubs and youth organizations increasingly rely on social media to communicate with students.

Some teenagers may also find ways around the restrictions by creating fake adult accounts or using platforms anonymously, potentially bypassing parental controls and safety settings designed for younger users.

“The vast majority of young people oppose youth social media bans, and teens are well known for their defiance of top-down edicts that disregard their needs,” Lind said. “Expect more conflict between teens and caregivers, not less.”

Researchers argued governments should more carefully evaluate the impact of social media bans before expanding them further.

Australian officials reported that roughly 70% of social media accounts belonging to users under 16 remained active three months after the country’s ban took effect, according to the analysis.

Future evaluations, researchers wrote, should examine whether bans actually change online behavior and should measure both positive wellbeing and mental health outcomes using multiple data sources, including reports from teenagers, caregivers and behavioral data.

Rather than focusing primarily on restricting access to social media, Lind said policymakers should invest more heavily in broader support for adolescents.

“Instead, policymakers should focus on supporting youth by pouring resources into the top factors that support teen wellbeing, like healthy, happy caregivers and meaningful opportunities to contribute to their community,” Lind said. “Teens feel better when they feel like what they do matters.”