TL;DR: Instagram Goes PG-13, TikTok Safety Fails, Denmark Moves to Ban Under-15s

In this week's Plugged In by Wired Parents, Instagram and Spotify roll out new parental controls—but a BBC investigation reveals TikTok's "Restricted Mode" fails to protect children from pornographic content within seconds. Meanwhile, Denmark announces plans to ban social media for under-15s following Australia's lead. Plus: the debate over whether school phone bans protect kids or leave them unprepared for a digital future.

Here's what parents need to know.

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What happened: Australia's world-first under-16 social media ban officially takes effect December 10, 2025. The same day, Instagram announced new PG-13-style content rating systems to help protect children.

What this means: Social media platforms operating in Australia face fines up to $49.5 million if they fail to prevent under-16s from creating accounts. The law applies to Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, TikTok, X, and YouTube—with no parental consent exceptions.

Instagram’s response: In what appears to be a direct response to global pressure, Instagram is rolling out a PG-13 rating system that will label content and limit what teens can see. The Guardian reports this is the most significant teen protection update from Meta in years.

Why this matters: Australia is the first developed country to implement such sweeping age restrictions. Other countries are watching closely—if the ban works (or doesn't), it will influence policy worldwide. Denmark has already announced plans for an under-15 ban following Australia's lead.

What parents need to know: If you have teens currently using these platforms, December 10 marks a significant shift in how platforms approach underage users. Even outside Australia, platforms may implement stricter age verification globally to comply with the Australian law.

Source: The Guardian | Full story →

What happened: A new BBC investigation reveals that TikTok's "Restricted Mode"—designed to filter inappropriate content for children—fails to prevent 13-year-olds from being exposed to pornographic material within seconds of creating an account.

What the investigation found: Even with Restricted Mode enabled, TikTok's algorithms actively pushed explicit sexual content to accounts registered as 13-year-olds. The content appeared in recommendations almost immediately, showing the platform's filters are insufficient.

Why this matters: Parents often enable "kid-safe" modes believing their children are protected. This investigation shows that even when using platform safety features, children are still being exposed to harmful content. The recommendation algorithm appears to override safety settings.

What parents need to know: "Restricted Mode" and similar features on platforms are not foolproof protections. Platform safety tools provide a false sense of security. If your teen uses TikTok, Restricted Mode alone is not enough to prevent exposure to inappropriate content.

Source: BBC | Full story →

What happened: Following Australia's lead, Denmark announced plans to ban social media for children under 15. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called it "stealing childhood" and committed to implementing similar restrictions.

The global pattern: Denmark becomes the latest country to consider age-based social media bans: - Australia: Under-16 ban (takes effect December 10, 2025) - Denmark: Under-15 ban planned - Several US states: Various age verification laws - UK: Age-appropriate design requirements under Online Safety Act

Why this matters: This isn't one country acting alone anymore. There's growing international consensus that current platform age verification (self-declaration) isn't working, and stronger measures are needed.

What parents need to know: The policy landscape is shifting rapidly. What platforms allow today may change significantly in the next 12-24 months as more countries implement restrictions.

Source: The Guardian

The divide: While US schools increasingly ban phones to reduce distraction, other countries are teaching digital literacy as a core skill—creating a fundamental question about how we're preparing children for the future.

The case for bans: The evidence is compelling. Schools report improved academic performance, better mental health, decreased cyberbullying, and students actually talking to each other at lunch instead of scrolling separately. Teachers can teach without competing with TikTok and Snapchat.

But the warning: As one expert quoted in SheKnows cautions, America risks "graduating a generation unprepared for a tech-dependent future." Estonia integrates digital literacy into core curriculum. Finland teaches critical thinking about technology. Singapore treats coding and digital citizenship as fundamental skills alongside reading and math.

The skills students might miss: Self-regulation (managing their own screen time), digital citizenship (online behaviour and privacy), professional digital skills (email, online collaboration), and critical thinking about algorithms and misinformation.

The question no one can answer: Is it better to remove phones entirely during adolescence, or teach digital literacy early in supervised environments where mistakes have lower stakes? Both have compelling logic. Neither has long-term outcome data.

What this means for parents: If your child's school bans phones, are you teaching digital literacy at home? If they allow phones, are you supporting self-regulation? We're the first generation navigating this, and we won't know which approach worked better for years.

Source: She Knows | For our most in-depth info on this, head to our blog post for a deeper look

What changed: Instagram is implementing a content rating system similar to movie ratings (PG-13) to help protect teen users from mature content.

Who it affects: All teen Instagram users will see content labeled by maturity level, with restrictions on what 13-15 year-olds can access.

What this means for families: This represents a significant shift in how Instagram approaches teen safety. The platform is moving beyond age restrictions to content-based filtering. However, as the TikTok investigation shows, these systems are only as good as their enforcement.

What parents can do: Even with new rating systems, review what your teen sees in their feed. Platform protections are improving, but they're not foolproof.

Source: The Guardian | Wired Parents

What changed: Spotify launched managed accounts for Premium Family plan subscribers in the UK, US, and Canada. Designed for children under 13, these accounts let parents remove explicit content from the library, hide risqué videos, and block messaging with other users.

Who it affects: Families with Spotify Premium Family plans who have children under 13.

What this means for families: This addresses long-standing safety concerns about Spotify. Parents have control over what their children can access while still allowing music discovery. Bonus: keeps kids' listening habits out of your personal algorithm and Wrapped results.

What parents can do: If you have Spotify Premium Family, set up managed accounts for your children to control content access and disable messaging features.

Source: Stuff

For more articles from the week, head over to Wired-Parents.com

Need a break from the serious stuff? Here are some lighter tech tidbits:

Three countries moving toward social media bans. Instagram launching new protections while TikTok's safety features fail. And the debate continues: are we protecting kids or leaving them unprepared? December 10 marks a turning point. Australia's ban takes effect, and the world watches.

We'll keep tracking what happens next.

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We track what's happening with children and technology so you can make informed decisions for your family. Every Thursday: safety updates, new research, and what's happening worldwide.

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