After two major jury verdicts this week found Meta and YouTube liable for harming children, you’d think the U.S. would finally crack down on Big Tech. But here’s the thing, we’re still stuck waiting for federal regulation while other countries are already taking action.

The lawsuits validated what parents and advocates have been screaming about for years: social media platforms are designed to be addictive and they’re damaging kids’ mental health. One jury in Los Angeles found both Meta and YouTube responsible for harms to children, while another in New Mexico determined that Meta knowingly hurt kids’ mental health and covered up child sexual exploitation on its platforms. Pretty damning stuff. But without actual laws, these verdicts probably won’t change much. Tech companies will just keep doing their thing unless Congress steps up with the Kids Online Safety Act, a bill that’s been sitting around since 2024.

Meanwhile, countries across the globe aren’t waiting around. Australia became the first nation to ban kids under 16 from social media in 2024, threatening platforms with fines up to 34 million Australian dollars if they let younger users slip through. Indonesia just started phasing in a similar ban this month for high-risk platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.

Brazil took a different approach. Instead of a full ban, they’re requiring kids under 16 to link their accounts to a parent’s for supervision. They also banned addictive features like infinite scroll and auto-playing videos, something that actually addresses how these apps are built to keep us hooked. Pretty smart.

Europe and the UK are getting serious too. France approved a ban on social media for kids under 15 starting next school year, along with restricting phones in schools. Spain, Denmark, and the UK are all moving toward similar restrictions. Malaysia is requiring major platforms to get licenses and implement proper age verification and safety measures.

The contrast is wild. While American kids are still scrolling without guardrails, teenagers in multiple countries are getting real protections. Yes, there are legitimate questions about whether age verification methods actually work and whether these bans might impact privacy for everyone. But at least these countries are trying to address the problem instead of just letting corporations profit off our kids’ attention and mental health.

The U.S. has the resources and the legal framework to do this too. We just need Congress to actually pass something instead of letting it languish. Until then, we’re basically telling kids that their wellbeing matters less than protecting tech company profits.