EU moves toward ban on social media for children under 13

Ursula von der Leyen plans to bring forward a proposal after the summer to limit children’s access to social media across the 27-member bloc. Von der Leyen, a doctor by training, said children under 3 should have no exposure to screens at all.

The Commission’s special panel on child safety online was created after von der Leyen’s 2025 State of the Union address and delivered its final report in July 2026. The panel’s paper recommends a tiered approach in which children under 13 could use social media only for limited periods and under the supervision of parents, caregivers and teachers. The idea is not yet law and would still have to move through legislation and negotiations with member states and lawmakers.

The enforcement problem is immediate. The panel’s paper says “the burden of proof needs to be on providers, not regulators, parents and children,” a standard that would require platforms to show their services are safe by design before younger users are allowed in. That shift would require tougher age verification, more pressure on product features that reward endless scrolling, and a sharper privacy debate over what platforms must collect to keep children out.

Australia became the first country to implement a social-media ban for under-16s at the end of 2024, and Indonesia began enforcing restrictions on March 28, 2026, banning children under 16 from accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox. The U.K. and Turkey are among countries tightening limits.