January Social Media Updates: Under-16 Bans, the Death of Hashtag Stuffing, and LinkedIn’s 2026 Playbook

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January Social Media Updates: Under-16 Bans, the Death of Hashtag Stuffing, and LinkedIn's 2026 Playbook

January 16, 2026

Overwhelmed by the constant changes to your social feed? This is the Boom Scroll, your crucial digest of social media updates and intelligence from January 2026, delivered to you from FINN's global social media team.

#1 Australia's under-16 social ban makes waves around the world

For Aussie teens, 2026 may be the year of more beach and more barbie, thanks to the country's nation-wide ban on social media for children under age 16. The sweeping restrictions are the world's first. And other countries are following suit.

The Boom

• Australia's under-16 ban deactivates existing social media profiles across TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat - and blocks new ones from being created.
• Platforms face fines up to $32M for serious breaches, shifting the burden of age verification entirely onto tech giants.
• Similar proposals are moving forward in Italy and South Korea.

Our take

This is a massive hurdle leaving brands that focus on teens scrambling for new ways to connect - and it won't be easy! Brands targeting younger demographics must embrace owned media channels (Email, SMS, and private communities) to ensure future-proof stability.

#2 Hashtag walls come crumbling down

The era of stuffing 30 hashtags into a single Insta post is officially over. Instagram announced that hashtags will be limited to just five per post, signaling a complete shift toward keyword-based AI indexing.

The Boom

• The platform is moving away from manual tags in favor of on-platform Search Engine Optimization, where Insta's algorithm scans captions, subtitles and spoken words to understand content, and serve to relevant audien
• Keywords are now considered "more than sufficient" for modern discovery algorithms.
• The change forces creators to focus on descriptive, high-value captions rather than relying on spammy hashtag walls.

Our take

This is a win for quality content over gaming the system. Brands need to start treating Instagram captions like SEO-optimized web copy-because that's how posts and stories will be served and discovered.

#3 LinkedIn tells you exactly how to win

In an official year-end update, LinkedIn's Vice President of Product Gyanda Sachdeva told users exactly how to master their LinkedIn feed this year. The channel will actively deprioritize generic AI-generated content and high-volume hacks in favor of posts that provide genuine professional utility and lived experiences. Take heed of Sachdeva's advice!

The Boom

• Sachdeva laid out exactly which topics perform best: industry news with personal perspectives, informative content, career stories and professional advice.
• The sweet spot for frequency is 2 to 5 posts per week.
• Space out posts on similar topics to give each one breathing room.
• Use AI as a tool to brainstorm or sharpen thoughts, but do not let it be the author. Professionals want to hear from real humans. And so does LinkedIn.

Our take

This is a massive opportunity for brands to leverage their internal subject matter experts to share those lessons only you can tell and package them into a strategic content calendar.

#4 Nearby feed launches on TikTok

TikTok is officially launching its "Nearby" feed in the UK, France, Germany and Italy, turning the app into a real-time guide for local discovery (and local business dollars).

The Boom

• The Nearby feed dynamically displays a user's location from the homescreen and recommends content and experiences based on a user's GPS location and personal interests.
• This helps users discover local restaurants, events and trending spots.
• This moves TikTok further into the search space, with 40% of young people already using it over Google for local info.

Our take

This is a game-changer for local business marketing. Brands should invite local influencers to create content that can be surfaced to nearby customers, providing a massive, location-based promotional boost.

The first month of 2026 has made one thing clear: the gap between "standard" social presence and strategic authority is widening. As platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn de-prioritize automated hacks in favor of human perspective and localized search, your brand's strategy must evolve from broadcasting to building discoverability.

Ready to turn these platform shifts into your market advantage?

Whether you need to navigate new global age gates, optimize your B2B executive presence for LinkedIn's new rules, or build a hyper-local TikTok creator program, we're here to lead the way.

As a leading social media agency, we stay ahead of these trends to ensure your brand's growth. Discover how our social media services can help your business stay competitive in this new era of AI-driven discovery.

Curious how we predicted last month's changes? Read the previous December 2025 Boom Scroll and get the latest paid media industry news through our latestMedia Pulse blog.

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POSTED BY: Emily Kemp, Justin Buchbinder