In an age in which children have ready access to the internet and social media, it falls upon organizations to interact with minors in ethical ways.

Following Australia’s recent passage of the  Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill in November, which bans children under the age of 16 from accessing social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat, media attorney and BigSpeak’s EVP Ken Sterling has a few suggestions for how business can safely and ethically interact with potential underage users, seeing Australia’s new law as a potential roadmap for how the United States can better protect children from inappropriate content, bullying and harassment from peers, and interactions with adult users.

1. Follow the law.

Following the law should be the baseline for any organization’s media strategy when doing business with minors. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has two main laws that businesses need to consider when interacting with young adults:

• The Children’s Television Act (CTA): This law limits the amount of time that broadcasters can devote to advertising during children’s shows.

• The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA): This law applies to the information that websites can collect for minors under the age of 13. It can also be applied to websites aimed at general audiences.

2. Consider company values.

Sterling argues believe businesses can—and should—strive for a higher standard than the law demands. A company’s ethical guidelines generally encompass a broader range of values than the law requires, such as honesty, transparency and fairness. These values can guide your company in situations where the law might be silent.

The problem for many companies is that their businesses were originally created with the intention of serving adult users, such as Facebook, which was originally marketed to college students. However, these days, anyone with an email address can join a social network.

3. Develop policies.

Businesses must create clear and strong policies about ethical conduct with underage consumers. These should go above the bar set by local, state and federal laws. Here are a few steps Sterling recommend to create a good set of policies:

• Define ethical expectations and outline any prohibited conduct with underage users. Good areas to cover are access to content, advertising and age verification.

• Make them highly visible. ethical policies should be posted publicly and easy to find on a company’s website.

• Review and update them regularly. Update policies yearly to conform to local, state, federal and international laws.

This article was originally published in full by Forbes jan 13, 2024.