Azerbaijan imposes huge fines for children under 16 using social media

Azerbaijan's parliament has passed a law banning children under 16 from creating accounts on social media platforms. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing APA agency.

Teenagers aged 16 to 18 can only register with the consent of parents or legal guardians. To verify age, platforms will use the user's email, phone number, and bank card.

The law will come into force 12 months after official publication. During this time, platforms must implement necessary technical solutions for age verification.

"Creation of individual digital accounts on platforms for persons under 16 is not allowed," the document states.

The new rules also require social networks to provide parents with tools to control content, advertising, and time spent by teenagers on the platform. Additionally, content dangerous for children must be removed no later than 24 hours after detection.

After the law takes effect, social networks will be obliged to restrict access to existing accounts of children under 16. If age confirmation is not provided, such accounts and related personal data must be deleted.

According to Trend agency citing the law text, phased sanctions are provided for violations.

First, platforms will receive a written warning, then fines of 100,000 and 300,000 manats (approximately 28.6 million and 85.8 million tenge, respectively). After that, state bodies and taxpayers of Azerbaijan will be banned from placing advertising on such platforms.

If violations are not eliminated, by court decision, platform traffic may be sequentially limited by 20%, then 50%, and ultimately 90%.

Furthermore, platform operators must report annually by January 15 to the authorized body on compliance with the law and provide statistics on account registration refusals.

Fines for officials range from 1.7 million to 2.6 million tenge, and for legal entities from 4.3 million to 11.4 million tenge, depending on the nature of the violation.

Earlier, Uzbekistan authorities also considered introducing age restrictions up to 16 years for using social networks.

Previously, Kursiv wrote that Kazakhstan is also considering limiting children's and teenagers' access to social networks. The draft law is expected to be submitted for discussion by the end of 2026.