The European Parliament backed proposals on June 30, 2026, to establish a minimum age of 16 for social media access. The proposals also included banning addictive design features, such as infinite scroll and autoplay, for younger users. Currently, no European Union-wide law regarding the minimum age for social media access is in place.

Mashable designated June 30 as Social Media Day in 2010. As of June 30, 2026, there are 5.66 billion social media users, which is more than 68 percent of the world's population, according to the DataReportal Digital 2026 Global Overview Report. The number of social media users was fewer than 500 million in 2005 and reached 2.27 billion in 2015. DataReportal states that the average active user spends 18 hours and 36 minutes per week on social media, which translates to approximately two hours and 39 minutes daily.

Social media usage rates vary by region, with East Asia showing an 88.1 percent ratio of social media usage relative to its total population. Northern Europe has a 79 percent usage rate, and Western Europe has a 77.7 percent rate. North America's social media usage stands at 74 percent of its total population. In contrast, Central Africa has a 12.1 percent usage rate, East Africa has 12.6 percent, and West Africa records a 19 percent usage rate.

Statista data compiled with Kepios ranks social media networks by monthly active users. As of October 2025, Facebook has 3.07 billion monthly active users. Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, and Instagram currently has 3 billion monthly active users. Reels is the default format for all video content on Facebook. Facebook also acquired WhatsApp in 2014, and WhatsApp has 3 billion monthly active users. YouTube, which Google owns, has 2.58 billion monthly active users. TikTok, launched internationally in 2017, has an estimated 1.99 billion users.