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THE EUROPEAN UNION will move to limit children’s access to social media later this year, according to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
She was speaking in Brussels as an expert panel commissioned to advise on the matter presented their findings.
The EU has been mulling a social media ban since a push by member states, including Greece and France, for limiting access.
Pressure has intensified for a bloc-wide ban after the Australian government introduced a ban in their country. In the UK, a ban on the use of social media by under-16s is due to be in place by next spring.
“What we already have is a consensus that there needs to be a start date for the age children can join social media,” von der Leyen said, calling for “age-appropriate restrictions”.
This is not about whether children can access social media. It is about whether and when social media can access our children.
“I believe we need to consider phased and gradual access for different age ranges. Because childhood will not wait. And once it is gone, we cannot give it back.”
She said the commission will examine the report and present a legal proposal after the summer.
It is expected that von der Leyen added will give an indication of what the restrictions will look like in her ‘State of the Union’ address in September.
The report by co-chairs child psychiatrist Jorg Fegert and epidemiologist Maria Melchior offered a glimpse of what the proposal could look like.
Among the recommendations in the report is no screens at all for babies and toddlers and supervised use of “age-appropriate social media” and devices children aged between three and 12 by parents or teachers.
For those aged 13 to 18, it recommended “evolving autonomous use” of social media and other digital platforms that have “key safety features”.
Many social media and video sharing platforms including TikTok and Meta’s Facebook and Instagram are only available to children aged 13 and over.
The EU has already ramped up the pressure on social media platforms to change in recent months, telling Facebook and Instagram Friday to dismantle their “addictive” features, after a similar warning to TikTok in February.
Platforms “must prove that their services do no harm. In Europe, whoever develops a product is responsible for its safety”, von der Leyen said.
“We are convinced that Europe must introduce protective measures to ensure the safety of children and adolescents in the digital world,” Melchior said, standing next to von der Leyen.
The report did not recommend a blanket ban on digital platforms including social media, and von der Leyen did not back such a move.
What the panel found was the Australian ban faced difficulties as children found ways around the limits, forcing the EU to reconsider its approach.
Instead, it wants platforms to remove or limit features like autoplay content, infinite scroll, and push notifications.
The European Parliament in October called for a ban on social media for children under the age of 16, a position some EU lawmakers continued to back — although divisions remain over the age.
“I still believe the age should be 15, not 13. 13 is already the minimum age used by most major social media platforms today,” EU lawmaker Christel Schaldemose said in a statement after the panel’s report.
There will likely be difficult negotiations since any EU proposal will only become law after talks between the parliament and member states.
A dilemma for the EU is how to avoid different age limits across 27 countries. For example, Spain wants to ban under-16s accessing social networks, while France proposes prohibiting children aged 15 and under.
And then there are EU nations such as Estonia that oppose a ban.
Von der Leyen said the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, would “have a very careful look” at the national proposals.
Brussels will “integrate” their work, she said, and then prepare its own proposal to “harmonise the approach and to find a common solution”.
The Irish government proposed restrictions on social media for children under the age of 16 in February.
The ‘Digital & AI Strategy’ commits to working with EU Member States to “explore options” to introduce age restrictions on the use of social media, particularly for those under the age of 16.
Speaking to The Journal last week, Ireland’s European commissioner for justice Michael McGrath ruled out an outright age-based ban for children using social media.
He said the Digital Fairness Act, which he is driving in Europe, will play a role in child protection online.
Giving more insight into what Europe is considering, McGrath said it is likely there will be a “graduated approach, where you have potentially certain settings off by default, you make parental control easier, that for certain age bands you have, you have different depths to the regulation and the safeguard”.
He added: “It’s not necessarily a ban under a certain age. Full stop. I think the approach will need to be more considered and broad based than that.”
The EU already has a bolstered armoury to rein in Big Tech and protect users online, and the commission has said more rules are on the way.
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