In my opinion there are should be different age restrictions for each social media, for example:

4 y.o. are allowed to use "YouTube for kids", so they can watch some kind of multfilms there;

7 y.o.should have access to "YouTube" and telegram/any other messenger needed for chatting with classmates and teacher;

10 y.o. have no limits and are able to use any app they want to

My idea is to let your child use social media but not every single one, so they can step by step learn how to "correctly" use apps and at the same time avoid giving free access to everything, so the child won't see unwanted content

the only restriction you could really need is for 18+ content because almost everything below can be viewed by anyone without any reprecussions

you could also make a kids version for some apps if you want them to be extra tame but an elsagate is bound to happen eventually and kids will set fake ages to not be restricted anyway

children have always bypassed legal age restrictions on apps and legislation for a fixed social media age won't do much to change anything

Simple messengers as Viber and WhatsApp can be used by primary school students for communication. Multi media platforms as YouTube and Instagram can be used carefully or with some parental controls and limitations for the available content. Same thing with websites for searching information like google and safari. Then teenagers can start using telegram and TikTok for more interesting communication and content, if they know community rules and what should they beware of in these communities. Anyway, it’s parent’s deal to tell their children how should they behave in internet. In my opinion kids can start using social media at age 8-12

Vika

Firstly, some simple social media platforms, such as Telegram or WhatsApp, which are mainly used for chatting and communication, should be available to everyone, starting from the age when you can use a smartphone or any other computer system.

Secondly, other social media platforms that are not messengers should be available only for children aged 10-12 years old. Users younger than this age could be influenced by content posted by people with different political/life/ideology/religion preferences and views than those of the child's family.

Lastly, applying any age restrictions for ages above 12 is almost useless, as anyone of this age can easily trick the age-restriction system.

To conclude, letting a child view any content they want can lead to unwanted consequences within the family. However, not allowing a child to use social media at all will result in them lacking the ability to communicate, as well as communication skills. Notably, after a specific age, any age restrictions should be stopped due to their irrelevance

Arseny

I, personally, suppose that restrictions, forbidding certain social media for certain ages are necessary. Obviously, firstly, I’m speaking of 18+ content. It has also seemed quite stupid to me that to prove my age I just need to click on a button, cause it’s more than easy to lie there, so it doesn’t really make any difference, but I do not have a better idea so it’s not for me to complain.

In my opinion, from a certain age any kind of restrictions is useless, because a person is able to trick them, but for everyone this age is different and unique, so I wouldn’t risk saying an exact number.

Overall, legal age to visit certain media is more than reasonable, as uncontrolled information’ a consumption may lead to child accepting view points that are far from what is considered “appropriate” by his family/ society or, worse, to a trauma ( the psychological one).

Furthermore I think more of the weird and possibly illegal stuff is being pushed on us by our peers.

Also if we're talking about 18+ sites, it's not hard for a child to tick the "yes I am 18" box, even if it's far from it.

It seems to me that age restrictions on the internet are not really necessary, because firstly, you will still find out what is written on the internet. Secondly, you grow up with what you look for on the internet and how you use technology.