UK Under-16 Social Media Ban Puts Platforms at Risk of Record Fines

The UK's 15 June announcement of a ban on social media services for under-16s shifts from voluntary compliance to statutory enforcement backed by Ofcom penalties of up to 10% of global turnover. Platforms must now deploy invasive age-verification systems—document checks, device-based inference, third-party providers—each creating data-protection exposure under UK GDPR. Australia's late-2024 comparable ban offers early evidence on enforcement vigour. Implementation details remain unclear: whether the ban covers all platform features or only feeds and public posting; how messaging-only products are treated; and liability allocation when age assurance fails.