Norway has taken a decisive step toward restricting children's access to social media, confirming that its forthcoming legislation will apply not only to conventional platforms like TikTok and Snapchat but also to the gaming service Roblox. The announcement sharpens a plan first floated in April, when the government said it would introduce a bill by the end of 2026 requiring technology companies to verify the ages of their users.
What the law would actually cover
Rather than drawing up a simple list of banned apps, Norway's government has defined a broader category: social media services whose design features or content pose risks to children's safety or to their emotional, cognitive and physical development. That framing is significant, because it shifts the regulatory focus away from what a platform calls itself and toward how it behaves. Roblox, often described as a gaming platform rather than a social network, qualifies under this definition because of its chat functions, user-generated content and the social interaction it enables among minors.
Children and families minister Lene Vaagslid has framed the legislation as a response to a cluster of interconnected risks, including illegal marketing directed at young users, exposure to harmful content and unwanted contact from strangers. The ministry has also pointed to addictive design features, such as endless scrolling and algorithmic recommendation systems, as a central target of the reform. Messaging services and games deemed harmless would remain outside the scope of the ban, suggesting that the law is intended to be selective rather than sweeping.
Placing the burden on platforms
A key feature of Norway's approach is that it would make technology companies, not parents or schools, responsible for verifying users' ages. This marks a departure from the self-declared age checks that have long been standard across social platforms, where a user can simply enter a birth date with no further verification. Robust age assurance typically involves more intrusive methods, such as document checks or behavioral analysis, raising its own questions about data collection and privacy that regulators will need to balance against child safety goals.
The ministry has also suggested that the legislation is designed to create a financial and reputational incentive for platforms to redesign their products, removing addictive features and harmful content rather than simply blocking younger users. That distinction matters: a law aimed at changing platform design has different implications than one focused purely on access restriction, since it could influence how these services operate for adult users as well.
Part of a wider international shift
Norway is joining a growing number of governments moving to restrict minors' access to social media. Australia implemented a ban on under-16s in December, while California has introduced new rules targeting specific social media features aimed at protecting children. Vietnam has proposed its own restrictions on social media and gaming, and the United Arab Emirates has barred children under 15 from holding social media accounts outright. The United Kingdom is weighing measures that could extend to gaming platforms as well.
This pattern suggests a broader recalibration of how democracies and other states view the relationship between children, technology companies and the state. Where earlier debates centered on content moderation, the newer wave of policy, including Norway's, increasingly targets the underlying mechanics of platform design: recommendation algorithms, notification systems and the social features that keep users, including children, engaged for extended periods. How enforcement will work in practice, and whether age verification technology can be both effective and privacy-respecting, remains an open question that will shape how these laws function once they take effect.