{"id":3488605,"date":"2026-03-20T19:01:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/20\/pinterests-ceo-urges-governments-to-prohibit-social-media-access-for-individuals-younger-than-16\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T19:01:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T19:01:54","slug":"pinterests-ceo-urges-governments-to-prohibit-social-media-access-for-individuals-younger-than-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/20\/pinterests-ceo-urges-governments-to-prohibit-social-media-access-for-individuals-younger-than-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinterest’s CEO urges governments to prohibit social media access for individuals younger than 16."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

The CEO of Pinterest, Bill Ready, has urged governments to prohibit social media usage for individuals under the age of 16 in a recent op-ed featured in Time.<\/p>\n

He is now among the few prominent CEOs advocating for such a measure, as countries around the globe start to enact or contemplate strategies to curtail children’s online engagement and determine how to authenticate ages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ready expressed that today\u2019s children are \u201cundergoing the most extensive social experiment in history,\u201d having been granted \u201cunrestricted access to social media platforms.\u201d Studies indicate the harm this unregulated access has caused, with present-day youth experiencing higher levels of depression, anxiety, and diminished focus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He remarked that social media companies provided \u201cinadequate consideration of the ramifications\u201d their platforms could have on minors and commended Australia\u2019s initiative to ban social media for children, stating that \u201cif tech firms do not put youth safety first, other nations should imitate Australia\u2019s example.\u201d<\/p>\n

He highlighted the restrictions and regulations imposed on sectors like tobacco and alcohol, asserting that \u201csuch measures can enhance and occasionally preserve lives.\u201d He also mentioned that Pinterest has thrived with Gen Z, even after restricting access to the site\u2019s social functionalities for users below 16 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we rationalize our inaction regarding the public\u2019s best interests, tech CEOs mirror the tobacco executives of the 20th century who needed to be coerced and litigated into compliance,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

Besides Australia, countries such as Malaysia, Spain, and Indonesia have declared social media restrictions. This initiative is igniting discussion within the technology sector, but policymakers show no inclination to yield to the pressure. Legislators in France recently sanctioned a ban for users under 15, while Germany\u2019s ruling faction affirmed its support for a variant of a social media prohibition as well. Various states in the U.S. are also exploring methods to limit minors\u2019 social media access.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/div>\n

The CEO of Pinterest, Bill Ready, has urged governments to prohibit social media usage for individuals under the age of 16 in a recent op-ed featured in Time.<\/p>\n

He is now among the few prominent CEOs advocating for such a measure, as countries around the globe start to enact or contemplate strategies to curtail children’s online engagement and determine how to authenticate ages.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ready expressed that today\u2019s children are \u201cundergoing the most extensive social experiment in history,\u201d having been granted \u201cunrestricted access to social media platforms.\u201d Studies indicate the harm this unregulated access has caused, with present-day youth experiencing higher levels of depression, anxiety, and diminished focus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He remarked that social media companies provided \u201cinadequate consideration of the ramifications\u201d their platforms could have on minors and commended Australia\u2019s initiative to ban social media for children, stating that \u201cif tech firms do not put youth safety first, other nations should imitate Australia\u2019s example.\u201d<\/p>\n

He highlighted the restrictions and regulations imposed on sectors like tobacco and alcohol, asserting that \u201csuch measures can enhance and occasionally preserve lives.\u201d He also mentioned that Pinterest has thrived with Gen Z, even after restricting access to the site\u2019s social functionalities for users below 16 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we rationalize our inaction regarding the public\u2019s best interests, tech CEOs mirror the tobacco executives of the 20th century who needed to be coerced and litigated into compliance,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

Besides Australia, countries such as Malaysia, Spain, and Indonesia have declared social media restrictions. This initiative is igniting discussion within the technology sector, but policymakers show no inclination to yield to the pressure. Legislators in France recently sanctioned a ban for users under 15, while Germany\u2019s ruling faction affirmed its support for a variant of a social media prohibition as well. Various states in the U.S. are also exploring methods to limit minors\u2019 social media access.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Techcrunch event<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco, CA<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3488606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3488605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3488605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3488605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3488605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3488606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3488605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3488605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3488605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}