The European Union is considering a bloc-wide ban on social media access for children under the age of 13 as part of a broader effort to protect young people from harmful content, addictive design features and online exploitation.
Under the proposal, children younger than 13 would not be permitted to open social media accounts. Users aged between 13 and 15 could be offered restricted “mini accounts” with limited functions, stronger privacy settings and parental or guardian supervision.
Platforms would also be required to provide additional safeguards for teenagers between 15 and 18. These could include stricter controls over recommendation algorithms, advertising, direct messages and access to content considered harmful or unsuitable for younger users.
The initiative reflects mounting concern among European policymakers about the effect of social media on children’s mental health, sleep, concentration and self-esteem. Officials are particularly worried about compulsive scrolling, cyberbullying, sexual exploitation and algorithms that repeatedly expose teenagers to violent, extremist or self-harm-related material.
A central part of the plan would require technology companies to adopt “safe-by-design” systems for young users. Rather than relying entirely on children and parents to change account settings, platforms could be legally required to activate the highest levels of privacy and protection by default.
However, enforcing an age-based ban would present significant technical and legal challenges. Regulators would need to develop reliable age-verification systems without forcing users to surrender excessive personal information or sensitive identification documents.
The proposal is also likely to face resistance from major technology companies, which could argue that existing parental controls and content-moderation systems already provide protection. Digital-rights organisations may also raise concerns about privacy, surveillance and the possibility of age-verification tools being used to collect additional personal data.
Supporters of the measure contend that voluntary action by social media companies has failed to provide adequate protection. They argue that platforms built around advertising and user engagement have little commercial incentive to reduce the amount of time children spend online.
The proposed restrictions would complement existing European legislation, including the Digital Services Act, which already imposes additional obligations on major online platforms and prohibits targeted advertising based on children’s personal data.
The plan remains a proposal and would need to be debated and approved by the European Union’s institutions and 27 member states before becoming law. Important details—including how users’ ages would be verified, which services would be covered and how violations would be punished—have yet to be finalised.
If adopted, the measure could become one of the world’s most extensive regulatory frameworks governing children’s access to social media and could place further pressure on technology companies to redesign their platforms around the safety of younger users.
