The European Union should explore limiting children’s access to social media with possible new rules proposed within months, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
She has tasked an expert panel to report back by July on what steps the EU should take to protect minors online, including a potential social media ban.
“Without pre-empting the panel’s findings, I believe we must consider a social media delay. Depending on the results, we could come with a legal proposal this summer,” von der Leyen said today during a summit on AI and children in Copenhagen.
“The discussions about a minimum age for social media can no longer be ignored,” she said, pointing to Denmark and nine other member states, including France, seeking to ban social media for teenagers under a certain age.
“The question is not whether young people should have access to social media. The question is whether social media should have access to young people.”
Since last year, member states have been inching closer to social media ban for minors, with multiple EU countries creating their own rules.
With this move, Brussels aims to create a harmonised approach across the bloc.
If successful, the EU will join Australia, which became the first country to introduce a ban for under-16s last year.
The EC is the EU’s digital watchdog and has already launched several probes into the world’s biggest online platforms including TikTok and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram over whether they are doing enough to protect children.
In April, the EU found Meta is failing to keep under-13s off Facebook and Instagram and in February it gave an unprecedented warning to China’s TikTok to change its “addictive design” or risk heavy fines.
Von der Leyen defended the law used to launch the investigations, known as the Digital Services Act (DSA), which has been fiercely criticised by the US administration under President Donald Trump.
“We have shown that we will forge ahead despite the headwinds we face. We’ve set the rules. It’s the law, and those who break it will be held accountable,” von der Leyen said without referring directly to US criticism.
Her comments today come amid the EC’s push for online-age verification.
