Age Rules by Country

1How these rules are chosen

There is one row for every country and territory, 250 in all. Each one starts from our own rules for under-18s (section 2), which are stricter than the law of most countries.

Where the law of a country, in force today, sets a higher minimum age for an account like yours, or makes the use of a minor's data depend on a parent's consent that we have no way to collect, that country gets a higher minimum age. Laws that are only announced, still in parliament, or blocked by a court are named in their country's entry and are not applied, so this document never claims a rule that is not law.

If a country is stricter than us, its rule wins. If we are stricter than a country, ours wins. You always get the stricter of the two.

This is our reading of each law, written down so that it can be checked. If you think we have one wrong, write to support@commentrs.com and we will look at it and correct the table.

2Our rules for under-18s, everywhere, and why each one exists

Messages only between people who follow each other. A stranger cannot open a conversation with a teenager. Most grooming starts with a private message from someone the child does not know; removing that first step removes most of the risk.

Every message checked before it is delivered. Until an account has verified its age, and always for an account under 18, each direct message, sent or received, is read by an automatic check that looks for sexual content, grooming, threats and scams, and a message it stops is never delivered. A rule that only acts after a report acts after the harm.

No hosting live streams. A live stream cannot be reviewed before it is seen, and it is where pressure from viewers, gifts in exchange for requests and contact from strangers are hardest to stop in time.

No buying, sending or receiving Coms, and no cashing out. Money is how a stranger turns attention into leverage over a child, and in many countries a minor cannot make a binding purchase without a parent. Keeping money out of under-18 accounts closes both problems at once.

An age band, never an age. When you verify, we keep one of four bands (under 13, 13 to 15, 16 or 17, 18 and over). Didit, which runs the check, deletes the selfie, any ID and the face template as soon as the check is decided (Privacy Policy, section 7.1).

No advertising based on profiling to under-18s, as the EU Digital Services Act requires, and no selling or sharing of any minor's data (Privacy Policy, section 12).

3Which country's rules apply to you

The country we read from your connection when you use Commentrs, checked on our server rather than reported by your device; if we have none, the home country you chose. The rules of that country apply while you are there.

Below your country's minimum age, an account cannot post, comment or send messages there.

4How we decide your age

In this order: the band from a Didit age check; without one, a message in which you said you are under 18, until an age check says otherwise; without either, the birth date you gave when you signed up. An account with no birth date is treated as under 18 until it verifies.

5Countries with a law of their own

Australia: minimum age 16. Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act 2024, in force since 10 December 2025: age-restricted social media platforms must take reasonable steps to stop people under 16 from having accounts.

Brazil: minimum age 16. Law 15.211/2025, the Digital Statute of Children and Adolescents: social networks must link the account of anyone under 16 to a parent's account. We cannot do that, so accounts in Brazil are 16+.

Canada: minimum age 13. No national minimum beyond meaningful consent (PIPEDA). In Quebec, Law 25 requires a parent's consent to collect the data of a child under 14; since we cannot tell provinces apart reliably, people in Quebec should be 14 or over.

Switzerland: minimum age 13. The revised Federal Act on Data Protection sets no fixed age; a child can consent once capable of judgement. The baseline applies.

China: minimum age 14. Personal Information Protection Law: the data of a child under 14 is sensitive and needs a guardian's consent, so accounts in China are 14+.

United Kingdom: minimum age 13. UK GDPR digital consent age 13. The Online Safety Act 2023 and the ICO Age Appropriate Design Code expect high-privacy defaults for children and protection from contact by strangers, which the baseline provides (messages only between mutual followers, every message checked, no live hosting, no money).

Indonesia: minimum age 18. Government Regulation 21/2025 (PP Tunas) restricts children's access to online services by risk class and asks for a parent's consent on higher-risk ones. A platform with direct messages and live video is higher risk, and we cannot collect a parent's consent, so accounts in Indonesia are 18+.

India: minimum age 18. Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023: a child is anyone under 18, and a child's data may be processed only with verifiable consent from a parent. We cannot collect that consent, so accounts in India are 18+.

Japan: minimum age 13. No minimum age for social media in law. The baseline applies.

South Korea: minimum age 14. Personal Information Protection Act: processing the data of a child under 14 needs a legal guardian's consent, so accounts in South Korea are 14+.

Malaysia: minimum age 13. Malaysia has announced that under-16s will be barred from social media with eKYC checks; until that is in force the baseline applies.

New Zealand: minimum age 13. A bill to bar under-16s from social media has been introduced; it is not law yet.

Türkiye: minimum age 13. No minimum age for social media in force. A national ID check through e-Devlet has been proposed for social media accounts; if it becomes law we will use it for accounts in Türkiye. Until then the same Didit check applies as everywhere.

United States: minimum age 13. Children's Online Privacy Protection Act: services must not collect data from under-13s without verifiable parental consent; Commentrs is 13+. Several states (for example Florida, Utah and Texas) have passed laws on minors and social media, some of them blocked in court; our under-18 baseline applies everywhere in the United States.

Vietnam: minimum age 16. Decree 147/2024: the account of a child under 16 must be registered by a parent or guardian. We cannot do that, so accounts in Vietnam are 16+.

South Africa: minimum age 18. Protection of Personal Information Act 2013: a child is anyone under 18, and a child's personal information may in general be processed only with a parent's or guardian's consent. We cannot collect that consent, so accounts in South Africa are 18+.

6The European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway

GDPR Article 8 lets each country choose its "digital consent age", the age below which a child cannot consent alone to an online service. Below that age, whether a child can agree to our Terms without a parent depends on each country's contract law, so we do not rely on it: our minimum age in each of these countries is its digital consent age, or 13 where that is higher. The Digital Services Act also applies everywhere here: high privacy, safety and security for minors, and no advertising based on profiling to them.

Austria: minimum age 14.

Belgium: minimum age 13.

Bulgaria: minimum age 14.

Cyprus: minimum age 14.

Czechia: minimum age 15.

Germany: minimum age 16.

Denmark: minimum age 13. Denmark has announced a ban on social media below 15; it is not law yet.

Estonia: minimum age 13.

Spain: minimum age 14. A bill to raise the consent age to 16 is in parliament; it is not law yet.

Finland: minimum age 13.

France: minimum age 15. Law 2023-566 on "digital majority" would require a parent's consent below 15 for social networks; it is not yet in force, and our minimum here is already 15.

Greece: minimum age 15. Greece promotes parental tools (Kids Wallet) and has discussed limits below 15; none is law yet.

Croatia: minimum age 16.

Hungary: minimum age 16.

Ireland: minimum age 16.

Iceland: minimum age 13.

Italy: minimum age 14.

Liechtenstein: minimum age 16.

Lithuania: minimum age 14.

Luxembourg: minimum age 16.

Latvia: minimum age 13.

Malta: minimum age 13.

Netherlands: minimum age 16.

Norway: minimum age 13. A minimum age of 15 for social media has been proposed; it is not law yet.

Poland: minimum age 16.

Portugal: minimum age 13.

Romania: minimum age 16.

Sweden: minimum age 13.

Slovenia: minimum age 15.

Slovakia: minimum age 16.

7Every other country and territory

In each of the following, no law in force sets a stricter rule for an account like yours, so our own rules apply: minimum age 13, and under 18 the rules in section 2.

Andorra, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Antigua & Barbuda, Anguilla, Albania, Armenia, Angola, Antarctica, Argentina, American Samoa, Aruba, Åland Islands, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Barbados, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Bahrain, Burundi, Benin, St. Barthélemy, Bermuda, Brunei, Bolivia, Caribbean Netherlands, Bahamas, Bhutan, Bouvet Island, Botswana, Belarus, Belize, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Congo - Kinshasa, Central African Republic, Congo - Brazzaville, Côte d’Ivoire, Cook Islands, Chile, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cape Verde, Curaçao, Christmas Island, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Algeria, Ecuador, Egypt, Western Sahara, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Falkland Islands, Micronesia, Faroe Islands, Gabon, Grenada, Georgia, French Guiana, Guernsey, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greenland, Gambia, Guinea, Guadeloupe, Equatorial Guinea, South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands, Guatemala, Guam, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Hong Kong SAR China, Heard & McDonald Islands, Honduras, Haiti, Israel, Isle of Man, British Indian Ocean Territory, Iraq, Iran, Jersey, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Comoros, St. Kitts & Nevis, North Korea, Kuwait, Cayman Islands, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, St. Lucia, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Monaco, Moldova, Montenegro, St. Martin, Madagascar, Marshall Islands, North Macedonia, Mali, Myanmar (Burma), Mongolia, Macao SAR China, Northern Mariana Islands, Martinique, Mauritania, Montserrat, Mauritius, Maldives, Malawi, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, New Caledonia, Niger, Norfolk Island, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Nepal, Nauru, Niue, Oman, Panama, Peru, French Polynesia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pakistan, St. Pierre & Miquelon, Pitcairn Islands, Puerto Rico, Palestinian Territories, Palau, Paraguay, Qatar, Réunion, Serbia, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Sudan, Singapore, St. Helena, Svalbard & Jan Mayen, Sierra Leone, San Marino, Senegal, Somalia, Suriname, South Sudan, São Tomé & Príncipe, El Salvador, Sint Maarten, Syria, Eswatini, Turks & Caicos Islands, Chad, French Southern Territories, Togo, Thailand, Tajikistan, Tokelau, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Tuvalu, Taiwan, Tanzania, Ukraine, Uganda, U.S. Outlying Islands, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vatican City, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Venezuela, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna, Samoa, Kosovo, Yemen, Mayotte, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

8Why these rules work in our favour too

The point of rules that are stricter than the law in most places is that they hold everywhere at once. A teenager who travels, or whose connection is read in another country, is never in a country where the rules are weaker than our own.

They also match what regulators ask for in substance: the EU Digital Services Act asks platforms to protect minors' privacy, safety and security; the UK Online Safety Act and Age Appropriate Design Code ask for high-privacy defaults and protection from contact by strangers; COPPA forbids collecting children's data without a parent; and the newer laws in Australia, Brazil and elsewhere set minimum ages. Each of those is met by a rule in section 2 or by a country's row above.

When a law changes, this document and the rules behind it change together, with a new version and date at the top.