EU plans social media restrictions for children under 15
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The European Union plans to prohibit children under 13 from accessing social media and restrict personal accounts for those under 15, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday.
Speaking during her annual address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen said that the bloc would adopt a gradual approach to protecting children online, with different restrictions based on age.
Under the proposed system, children aged 13 and 14 would be allowed to use limited accounts created and supervised by parents or guardians. Those accounts would have restricted features and a daily limit of one hour, while platforms would be required to implement stronger safety measures for users aged 15 to 17.
The European Commission is expected to formally present its proposed EU Kids Act on Thursday. The draft includes measures to curb addictive design features such as infinite scrolling and could impose fines of up to 6 percent of a platform’s annual turnover for violations.
The plans come amid growing concern over the effects of social media on children’s wellbeing. A European Commission survey published in June found that young people in the EU spend an average of 4.5 hours online on school days and 6.1 hours per day at weekends.
The Commission has already taken action under the Digital Services Act. In April, it preliminarily found Meta in breach of the law over measures intended to prevent children under 13 from accessing Instagram and Facebook.
Digital rights and consumer groups have raised concerns about how age verification would work, particularly regarding privacy and data protection.
The proposed rules must still be negotiated by EU member states and the European Parliament before they can become law.