On July 21, France became the first European Union country to pass a blanket social media ban for children under 15. Britain announced a similar measure in June to ban social media for all under-16s, although the restrictions are not expected to take effect until spring 2027 in order to review and debate the methods of restriction. Others such as Germany, Denmark, and Portugal are seeking explicit parental consent and controls for children 13 to 15 to access social media. Australia, which implemented the world’s first under-16 social media ban in December, demonstrates the practical difficulty of the task. Millions of deleted accounts can look like an impressive statistic, but they do not necessarily mean millions of children have left social media.