Most Americans support social media ban for children under 16, survey finds

More than half of American adults now support banning social media use by anyone under 16, according to a 2026 Pew Research Center survey of 9,750 US adults conducted between May 26 and June 1.

However, the survey found that 56% of respondents support the ban of social media for children under the age of 16, while only 21% of them are against this ban. It should be noted that the most supportive of such regulation were people aged 30 to 49, with 63% supporting, and 49% being aged 65 or older.

The parents of children under 18 are also supporters of this ban, with 65 per cent in favour and 17% not against it.

As Pew Research Center statistics demonstrate, this problem is transpartisan in nature since, nowadays, not many issues divide politicians in this manner.

Republicans and Republican-leaning independents support this ban much more than people who oppose it, and it can be said about Democrats and Democratic leaners who favour the ban in 54 per cent of cases.

Apart from the absolute ban, Pew revealed that there was more support for measures that were less restrictive. In this case, 85% of the adults favoured mandatory parental approval in order for the children to make an account on social media.

This increased from 81% recorded in 2023. Mandatory age verification for social media use was supported by 78%, which is up from 71%, while restricting social media use among children reached 78%, up from 69%.

These results come at a time when other countries such as Australia, the UK, Denmark and even California have put in place a minimum age for social media use.