The European Union on Monday moved closer to barring children from social media, in what would be the largest effort to date in the growing global movement to create age limits for apps like TikTok and Instagram.
Experts delivered a report to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, recommending that the European Union restrict access to social media for children under the age of 13 unless they are supervised by a parent or teacher.
The report, by a child psychiatrist, Professor Jörg Fegert, and an epidemiologist, Dr. Maria Melchior, also recommended that teens from age 13 to 18 should only have access to social media platforms that have introduced safety features such as limits on infinite scrolling. It said that toddlers under the age of 3 should have no screen time at all. The recommendations are the first step toward a law that would bar children and teens from using certain social media sites. Ms. von der Leyen, who appointed the panel’s members, is expected to announce the proposed law in September during the annual State of the European Union address.
“It is very clear that we need age-appropriate restrictions to platforms,” Ms. von der Leyen said on Monday.
“This is not about whether children can access social media. It is about whether and when social media can access our children.”
Across Europe, children now spend four to six hours a day on social media, and almost 60 percent of children had experienced emotional and psychosocial problems online, Ms. von der Leyen said.
The report adds to a worldwide movement to limit children’s screen time and exposure to social media. Companies have faced a backlash amid concerns by parents about addiction and the technology’s potential to harm young people’s mental health.
Australia last year became the first country in the world to bar children under 16 from using social media. Since then, countries including Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, India, Indonesia and Malaysia have implemented or are considering similar rules.
In the United States, Florida passed a ban in 2024 on social media use for those under 14 without parent permission.
If the European Union introduces a new law, it would represent by far the biggest effort worldwide to bar children from social media. Roughly 450 million people live in the European Union, and about 18 percent of the population is under the age of 18.
But passing a new law would require a lengthy policymaking process that involves negotiations among the national governments that comprise the 27-nation European Union — a group that does not always agree on the need for new laws and regulation.
How such rules would be implemented also remains an open question. In Australia, critics have said teens are easily sidestepping the blocks and that the law has not fulfilled its promise.
Even without a ban, regulators in Brussels are trying to force social media companies to change their policies. Last week, authorities told Meta it must change the “addictive design” of Instagram and Facebook, or risk a hefty fine. TikTok is facing similar demands as part of another investigation.
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