> Child accounts can be more locked down. But children can lie and use parent's id/phone/etc to create adult accounts.

Teenagers can also use a fake ID to buy alcohol, but we don't use that as an excuse for not having laws preventing children from buying alcohol.

I'm reminded of patio11's The optimal amount of fraud is non-zero [0]. It is worthwhile to have laws that are designed to substantially reduce the amount of harm done. It is also worthwhile to be aware that there is a threshold beyond which those laws would do more harm than good.

However, just because we can imagine laws beyond that threshold does not mean that our current laws are optimal. There's a delicate balance to be struck, but from the evidence that I've seen so far I'd say our laws regarding social media and children are way too far on the permissive side.

[0] https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/optimal-amount-of-fra...