{"id":1086385,"date":"2026-07-13T11:02:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1086385\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T11:02:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T11:02:25","slug":"european-union-set-to-launch-children-social-media-ban-across-all-countries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1086385\/","title":{"rendered":"European Union set to launch children social media ban across all countries"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The European Union will move to limit young children’s access to social media across the 27-member bloc, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday, in what \u2060would be the biggest such effort to date to guard against online dangers.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen presented a paper from two experts recommending a tiered approach, with under-13s only allowed to use social media for limited \u2060periods under the supervision of parents, caregivers \u200band \u2060teachers. The curbs would be lifted gradually as teenagers got older.<\/p>\n

“It is clear we need age-appropriate restrictions to platforms,” \u2060von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels.<\/p>\n

“The question is \u200bno \u2060longer if children face risks \u200conline, but what can we do to give children a safer start online,” she said.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen indicated that she was \u200clikely to follow the experts’ suggestions and that \u200cthe Commission would present a concrete proposal after the summer. She is expected to announce it at her state of the union address in September.<\/p>\n

Australia, Britain, \u2060China, India and the United States have already imposed a social media ban or are considering one, which would mainly target TikTok, Alphabet’s YouTube and Meta’s Instagram and Facebook.<\/p>\n

\"EuropeanEuropean Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a press briefing on the report on children’s safety online, in Brussels, Belgium July 13, 2026. REUTERS\/Yves Herman (Reuters)<\/p>\n

Those companies did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. Social media platforms have said they have measures to protect younger users and many have \u200calready imposed age restrictions.<\/p>\n

“We first need to consider the type \u200bof platforms that are harmful to our children. The \u200cevidence shows that this is \u2060mainly social media platforms, but also other providers with age-inappropriate \u2060and addictive features. So think of it as social media plus,” von der Leyen \u200csaid.<\/p>\n

“And when we \u200bhave this clearly defined category, \u200cI believe we need to consider \u200bphased and gradual access for different age ranges,” she added.<\/p>\n

The UK is set to have a ban in place on certain social media for under-16s by spring, after an announcement by Sir Keir Starmer last month.<\/p>\n

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall has acknowledged the ban will not be a \u201ccomplete silver bullet\u201d, saying it is about providing clarity for parents and children and resetting expectations and social norms when it comes to young people\u2019s use of social media.<\/p>\n

She has also insisted that the UK\u2019s use of \u201chighly effective age-verification measures\u201d would make the ban stronger than the Australian system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1086386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[389,2000,299,5187,1699,44888,4073,3082],"class_list":["post-1086385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-children","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-horizontal","tag-illustration","tag-internet"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116912335814241290","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1086385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1086385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1086385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1086386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1086385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1086385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1086385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}