Countries around the world are one by one passing the same law: children are not to have access to social media. Australia drew the line first in December 2025 - a ban for everyone under 16. Since then the list of countries following it has only grown, and among them are some of our close neighbors.

The most recent is France. The law passed on 21 July, and from 1 September the networks will be banned for children under 15. The others aren't lagging behind either: Denmark is preparing a ban for under 15, Spain and Germany for under 16, Poland and Slovenia for under 15. From the region closer to us, Turkey already voted the law through in April and is awaiting the president's signature, while Greece plans a ban for under 15 from January 2027.

The reasons the governments cite are the same everywhere - addiction, online harassment, damaged mental health and exposure to predators. It's hard to dispute that the problem exists. Any parent who has watched a ten-year-old glued to a screen until midnight knows what it's about.

But here's the hard question: how is a ban like this actually enforced?

To block one child, the platform first has to know it's a child - which means someone has to check everyone's age. And age verification requires documents, a face scanned through a camera or some other piece of data that identifies you. Organizations like Amnesty Tech warn that this is exactly where the trap lies: to protect children, you introduce a system that tracks everyone. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he believes the ban can be enforced - but „I believe it can” isn't the same as „here's how it will be enforced.”

Effectiveness is also in question. A child who wants to get onto a network finds a way - a fake age, someone else's profile, a VPN that hides the origin. If the ban is easily circumvented, all that remains is the appearance of protection, while the age-verification system stays permanently built in. It's a classic trade in which you get a little security and give up a lot of privacy.

And here at home? While fourteen countries are already writing laws, in our region the debate about children and screens rarely leaves the parents' groups on the networks. The question isn't whether a wave like this will reach the Balkans - the neighbors are already bringing it - but whether we'll think about the privacy trap before we copy the law, or only after we've signed it.