BRUSSELS — Ursula von der Leyen's bill to keep young Europeans off social media is an ambitious response to the growing outcry over the potential harm of TikTok, Instagram and other online platforms. Making the restrictions a reality will require a whole new level of ambition. The European Commission must now negotiate with national governments and technologists to figure out exactly how to impose a law across Europe that would ban kids under 13 from social media, and severely restrict access for those under 15 — all without trampling on privacy of young and old alike in the process of verifying users’ age.
Reducing the harms of social media on youth has been a top priority for the Commission president, a medical doctor and mother of seven who has repeatedly decried the internet's impact on the health of minors since her 2025 State of the Union speech. The EU’s proposed measures come after Australia imposed the first-ever national social media ban in December 2025, blocking under-16s from creating accounts on major platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. Australia’s ban has had limited impact so far, with a large percentage of kids still having access to social media, which Canberra blames on the platforms’ lack of compliance.
A fierce global campaign by parents and mental health professionals has been warning that social media platforms lead to a range of ills including addiction, social isolation and depression. Child rights campaigners and some EU governments have argued that blanket bans are not the way to go, violating young people’s rights to information and expression. Their concerns were integrated into the new proposal, which attempts to reconcile sometimes conflicting considerations and targets online channels beyond traditional social media, including AI chatbots and video games.
But the nuances in the legislation will only add to the challenge of making the law a reality. The EU’s proposal would effectively bar anyone under 13 from creating accounts on social media and video-sharing platforms, while severely restricting teens aged 13 to 15 from using these services independently. Services like video game platforms and AI chatbots have to follow safety-by-design principles that don’t encourage compulsive use among kids.
The proposal also takes into account the different approaches that EU capitals were already developing in their national measures. The two most important capitals to balance are Paris and Berlin, which are calling for bans for under-15s and under-13s, respectively. The Kids Act’s tiered approach, which includes different restrictions at each age, could keep both capitals happy.
Finalizing the rules will be an uphill battle for European legislators. The 55-page proposal needs approval from national governments and the European Parliament. The national bills would effectively be scrapped by the Commission’s EU-wide proposal.
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