The European Commission has put national laws restricting children’s access to social media on hold for a year, ordering member states to wait for EU-wide rules instead.
The decision, announced at the Commission’s daily press briefing in Brussels yesterday, is designed to clear the way for the proposed EU Kids Act, which would bar under-13s from social media across the bloc.
Commission digital spokesman Thomas Regnier said the executive had decided to “postpone for 12 months any draft national laws overlapping with the future harmonised rules”. He argued that different age limits in different member states would fragment the single market and leave platforms unable to comply.
Regnier declined to list the countries affected but cited Austria, whose plan to ban social media for children under 14 was sent to Brussels for review in July. According to Agence Europe, draft laws notified by Belgium and Portugal would also be caught.
The decision drew a swift rebuke from Vienna. Austrian state secretary for digitalisation Alexander Pröll told Politico it was unacceptable for Brussels to block national legislation without first putting forward a comprehensive European solution of its own.
Not every capital has been stopped. Greece, whose ban on social media for under-15s is due to take effect on January 1, 2027, is exempt because the Commission’s review of its law ended before the EU proposal was tabled.
Italy and France, which also notified their plans well before September, are expected to be allowed to proceed, according to the German news agency dpa. AFP reported that the Commission had nonetheless asked Paris to rework its text.
The freeze marks a hardening of the Commission’s line. On February 4, after Spain announced plans for an under-16 ban, Regnier warned national governments that imposing extra obligations on platforms was off limits because the matter was already regulated by the Digital Services Act.
Under the Kids Act, presented by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen on September 17, children aged 13 to 15 could use social media only through “mini accounts” set up and supervised by their parents. Independent accounts would be permitted from the age of 15.
The regulation must still be negotiated by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union before it can become law. The standstill could be extended by a further six months if the Council adopts its first-reading position in the meantime, Agence Europe reported.
Ireland, which holds the rotating EU Council presidency, has said it wants to speed up work on the file. Regnier described adoption of the Kids Act as the Commission’s top priority.
