The EU has announced plans to restrict social media access for under-15s across its member states, in a bid to increase wellbeing and tackle online safety.
Under the plans, there would be a gradual approach to children using social media which would include banning under 13s from accessing platforms.
Those aged 13 to 15 would only be able to access platforms for an hour per day via “mini accounts” set up through their parent or guardian’s social media account.
The European Commission said social media companies would need to prove their platforms were safe by design, while EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said the move would “put parents back in the driving seat”.
She added the legislation – called the EU Kids Act – would give parents “the tools to help their children navigate a safer world”.
“Too many children are being exposed too early to an online world they are not ready to navigate – an environment where bullying can follow you home, where every mistake can be recorded forever,” von der Leyen said.
Under the act, only children aged 15 and over would be able to set up their own social media accounts.
But von der Leyen told the EU Parliament on Thursday that “an age limit does not mean letting tech companies off the hook for the content on the platform”.
She added that under the legislation – if it is approved – companies would be required to submit detailed child safety plans.
“For every person under 18, the platforms must follow the principal of safety by design, no toxic or addictive features, no traps, etc,” she said.
The proposal sets out that age would be verified using the EU’s preexisting age verification app.
Von der Leyen had previously proposed a social media “delay” for children in Europe, saying in May that “the discussion about a minimum age for social media can no longer be ignored”.
The policy, formally outlined on Thursday, was also trailed in the EU chief’s annual address on Wednesday.
Some individual EU countries have already announced their own separate plans to restrict social media for children, including France and Spain.
Any potential EU-wide legislation would supersede those, but it would be possible for individual EU members to then go further than the bloc’s action.
It is not clear which platforms the proposed bloc-wide measures would apply to, but von der Leyen said the Commission had “looked at Australia” when putting together the proposal.
Platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok were banned for under-16s in Australia in December last year.
The ban has been difficult for the country to enforce, with its Communications Minister Anika Wells admitting earlier this month that so far no tech firm had been fined despite research showing many under-16s were still on platforms.
A similar ban for under-16s is set to come into force in the UK in spring next year.
