Experts to deliver verdict on EU social media controls for children

Dozens of experts from various countries have contributed to the recommendations, which will be submitted to the European Commission.

The EU’s executive body commissioned the report last year to help shape its proposals for new regulations on children’s access to social media. 

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has already indicated that she favours a restrictive approach.

“Just as in my day we as a society taught our children that they could not smoke, drink and watch adult content until a certain age, I believe it is time we consider doing the same for social media,” she said in her state of the union address in September.

Invoking Australia’s ban on social media for under-16s, von der Leyen said she was following the outcome of the policy closely “to see what next steps we can take here in Europe”.

Several member states are on board with a ban and von der Leyen could outline proposed legislation as early as September, multiple officials told Politico news site.

Von der Leyen steps up EU child safety crackdown on social media giants

Global debate

France is one of the EU countries leading the call for tighter controls on social media, with the government seeking to fast-track legislation that would ban under-15s from major platforms from the start of the new school year in September.

The bill has been held up by disagreements in parliament over whether to apply the ban to all social networks or just those that regulators judge to be harmful – a distinction that the European Commission has warned could make it incompatible with EU law.

With several member states pushing ahead with their own legislation, the EU is under pressure to come up with a consistent joint approach. Australia became the first country to enforce age limits for social media in December 2025.

Can France really keep kids off social media, and will it make them safer?

Italy is also considering a ban for under-15s, while Greece has announced that it will introduce one from 2027.

Austria and Slovenia are preparing legislation to prohibit access for under-14s and under-15s respectively, while Spain and Portugal have proposed setting a minimum age of 16. Germany, Denmark and Sweden are also debating age restrictions. 

Outside the EU, the UK, Norway and Canada are among countries preparing to ban social media for under-16s. Turkey has already passed a ban for under-15s that will come into effect later this year.

Australia became the first country to implement age restrictions in December 2025, followed this year by Indonesia and Malaysia.

In China, where the internet is tightly regulated by the state, minors’ access to social media has been restricted progressively since 2019. Rather than being barred outright, young users have their screen time limited via time caps and curfews.

(with AFP)