Australia's under-16 social media ban has reverberated around the world. The US hasn’t passed federal law aimed at digital child safety since 1998.

Australia's blanket age ban has its imperfections, but forcing conversations to safeguard the next generation may be better than doing nothing, says Catherine Thorbecke for Bloomberg Opinion.

Australia passed a law Thursday banning children younger than 16 from using social media, worrying some Big Tech companies. The Social Media Minimum Age bill requires social media platforms, including Instagram,