Trying to split the internet into “adults’” and “children’s” sections is never going to work — not without a mandatory ID system that nobody wants — nobody who isn’t attached to a spy organization or totalitarian regime, at least. You can’t treat it like alcohol or tobacco because nobody’s giving away alcohol and tobacco for free; we restrict access primarily at the point of sale. There’s no point of sale for social media, and no comparable way to restrict it.

However, what you can do is regulate advertising to the point where the dark patterns used by data-harvesting platforms like TikTok, Google, Facebook, etc. are simply not commercially viable. The EU is moving in that direction already.