Europe’s effort to block kids from social media gathers pace

BRUSSELS — The European Union would become a world leader in stopping kids from using social media under a new proposal gaining traction in Brussels.

The proposal, which is being spearheaded by Greece and already has the support of digital frontrunners France and Spain, would see the EU set new rules to massively curb children’s social media use amid growing concerns about the impacts of spending too much time online.

The issue has gained increased attention worldwide after Australia moved to set a minimum age of 16 for signing up to accounts with certain social media sites as of later this year.

According to a document obtained by POLITICO, countries want Brussels to go further by establishing an EU-wide age of digital adulthood, below which minors would need parental consent to log onto social media — meaning that kids couldn’t automatically access any of the most popular apps such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat.

The proposal is set to be discussed by EU digital ministers at a meeting in early June. It comes as Denmark prepares to take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU for a six-month stint in which Copenhagen has already committed to action in Brussels.

“Protection of our children online will be a key priority for the upcoming Danish EU presidency,” Denmark’s Minister of Digital Affairs Caroline Stage Olsen said in a statement. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has also previously said she supports a ban on social media for under-15s.

The proposal was sent to other countries on Thursday to ask for their support ahead of the Council meeting, an EU official with knowledge of the process said.

It’s a sign that European capitals are not happy with the pace at which Brussels regulators are taking action and are joining forces in a fresh bid to prevent children from being exposed to excessive screen time. Protecting minors from online harms and risks “demands collective action at the European level,” the proposal reads.

The move follows a year-long effort by French President Emmanuel Macron. “We must regain control of the lives of our children and teenagers, in Europe, and impose digital majority at age 15, not before,” he said in April 2024, coining the phrase digital majority to mean a legal definition of the age under which kids should be banned from certain online behaviors.

The European Commission is already working on some measures centered around existing regulations like the Digital Services Act, which defines rules for online platforms.

But the proposal would see the EU go much further — with mandatory, built-in age verification and parental control on devices, as well as “European norms” to minimize persuasive architectures. These include features like autoplay, personalization and pop-ups, which are designed to raise the appeal of apps and keep users online for longer.

The document proposes that age verification happen at the level of devices, which companies like Apple and Google will likely object to.

Platforms, chief among them Meta, are lobbying for device or app store-level solutions, while providers of app stores and operating systems have argued solutions should come at the device level — a disagreement that means it could take years to see meaningful action from the industry, according to proponents of regulation.

None of the social media platforms contacted for this article — TikTok, Meta, X and Google — responded to a request to comment on the proposal.

France already passed measures to block access to social media for children under 15 in 2023, although these are yet to be fully implemented. 

Macron’s junior digital minister Clara Chappaz has been campaigning to get other countries on board for EU-wide action in recent months.

The Greeks, who led the proposal, have been on a similar campaign, although their view is that a total ban doesn’t work, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said. Instead, they want to focus on age verification and requiring platforms to design their services with minors in mind, avoiding addictive features. As a result, many of the suggestions in the proposal remain general in nature.

The proposal is signed by Chappaz, Greece’s digital minister Dimitris Papastergiou and Spain’s digital minister Oscar López Agueda.

The three countries have also been selected to test an app for age verification developed by the Commission, POLITICO reported earlier.