The European Union is "watching and will be learning" from Australia's new laws to bar under 16s from social media which officially roll out on December 10.
Australia led the world in introducing laws to require 10 platforms including TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat to take reasonable steps to block young users or face fines of up to $49.5 million.
Europe is now eyeing similar bans, as well as proposals for a late-night "curfew", curbs on addictive features, and an EU-wide age verification app.
Here's what's happening overseas — and what Australia could learn from it.
Which EU countries already have restrictions in place?
Denmark has already promised to bar under 15s from social media unless they have parental consent.
In late November, the European Parliament voted in favour of banning under-16s without parental consent from social media, and an outright ban on under-13s.
The parliament also voted in favour of protecting minors from addictive features such as infinite scrolling, automatic videos, excessive push notifications and rewards for repeated use of a site.
The non-binding resolution came after European Commission (EC) president Ursula von der Leyen praised Australia's laws, telling a United Nations event in September she was "inspired" by Australia's "bold" move.
"It is obvious this is plain common sense," she said.
"We all agree that young people should reach a certain age before they smoke, drink, or access adult content. The same can be said for social media."
Ms von der Leyen is due to receive expert advice by the year's end "on the best approach for Europe".
[map]Italy has laws requiring under-14s on social media to have parental consent, while Spain and Norway have both moved towards rolling out similar restrictions.
In June 2023, France introduced laws requiring platforms to verify users' ages and obtain parental consent for users under 15.
And French President Emmanuel Macron has recently promised his government will ban all under-15s from social media if progress isn't made at the EU level.
French parliamentarians have also proposed an overnight "digital curfew" for 15 to 18-year-olds, while French prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into TikTok over claims it exposes children to content that promotes suicide.
Lisa Given, an RMIT professor specialising in age assurance technology, says while Australia was the first country to legislate an outright ban on under-16s using social media, other jurisdictions had "been toying with different solutions" in recent years.
"Many, many countries in the world are really watching us closely to see if the social media restrictions that we're putting in place are going to be something they could replicate or adapt to their own context," she said.
How Europe is developing its own age verification app
The EC has been working with five countries — Denmark, France, Greece, Italy and Spain — on developing an age verification app.
The aim is to allow users to prove their age through an official EU-wide app without giving sensitive information to social platforms, unlike Australia's approach.
Professor Given says the Australian government has left age-assurance checks "in the hands of tech companies".
"Having government oversight around the interventions that are going to be used to ensure that companies are complying with privacy legislation is really critical," she said.
"Many individuals, including parents, will be quite concerned about what technologies the companies are using for age assurance.
"Do these raise any risks around privacy? If information is being stored or shared about their children as part of the age assurance process, is that data going to be safe?"
Cybersecurity experts have raised the alarm with Snapchat's approach to verifying Australian users' ages, which includes sending a selfie or government-issued ID to a third-party platform.
A government spokesperson told the ABC its new laws had "strong protections for personal information" collected for age assurance checks, including "serious penalties" for platforms that fail to protect personal data.
What else could Australia learn from Europe?
While Australia is the first country to ban under-16s from social media, the government's approach could be influenced by what's happening abroad.
In November, Australia's eSafety Commission signed a joint pledge with its UK counterpart and the EC that will see them share knowledge on age assurance technologies.
It could see Australia follow Europe's lead in developing its own age-assurance checks, with the government's new laws to be independently reviewed in two years' time.
The EU's move towards forcing platforms to disable addictive features on young users' accounts could gain traction here too.
"It's not just the content on the platform or the platform itself. It is the algorithm," Professor Given said.
"It is the reward structure built in …. where you've gone down a rabbit hole and a few hours have gone by because you've followed where the algorithm has taken you.
"These kinds of controls are not part of [Australia's] social media restrictions."
Professor Given says Europe's approach to allow 13, 14 and 15-year-olds access to social media with parental consent has merit as well.
"YouTube is a good example where they've said allowing kids to look at the platform in a logged-out state means a lot of the safety controls that they've tried to embed in the platform are then not available to users," she said.
"In Australia, we have heard from many parents who are asking for that level of control … to make choices that are going to be best for their own kids.
"I think what we're seeing in the EU is a recognition of parents really wanting to be involved in a lot of these choices while setting some clear minimums."
