The European Union on Monday took a major step towards regulating social media for children, as an expert panel backed by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recommended EU-wide restrictions on social media for under-13s.
But the proposed age limit is only the headline. The 156-page report lays out a sweeping “safe by design” approach that would shift the responsibility onto platforms to prove their products are safe for young users, while calling for a broader cultural shift in how European youth and parents manage social media use.
The announcement on social media regulation for minors comes after months of mounting pressure on the Commission to put forward a harmonized EU approach, as member states across the bloc quickly move forward on restrictions of their own. Von der Leyen said that after reviewing the report, the Commission would propose legislation after the summer.
She also kept the door open for member states to pursue more stringent restrictions on higher ages at the national level — raising the prospect of a fragmented regulatory landscape. The proposal could also add a new point of friction in transatlantic trade relations given the vast majority of social media platforms are American.
“We in Europe believe that parents bring up our kids and not predatory algorithms,” said Von der Leyen at a Monday morning press conference unveiling the special report. “It is very clear that we need age-appropriate restrictions to platforms… We need to set the age at which children can legally access social media.”
Report calls for algorithmic reform to protect children
The report’s standout figure is a restriction on social media use for under-13s, unless with parental consent or for educational purposes. The report calls for zero screentime for children under three, and an age-appropriate increase in digital access through adolescence that could vary between member states.
The report also emphasizes that restrictions should go beyond traditional social media platforms to also include video game platforms, artificial intelligence companions and video-sharing platforms that have become increasingly popular among young users.
But the report’s co-chairs, Dr. Maria Melchior and Dr. Jörg M. Fegert, stressed that age bans alone are poor tools to protect European youth. Instead, they argue for a two-pronged approach that combines age-restrictions and “safe by design” requirements, forcing platforms to redesign many of the addictive features of social media products.
“Just restricting the age at which children can access the services is not enough if there’s no change in how the services work,” said the experts from the special panel.
The report argues that the EU should build on existing EU policy tools such as the Digital Services Act and the upcoming Digital Fairness Act to regulate the algorithms of social media platforms. They also emphasized that the burden of proof needed to be on social media providers to make platforms safe, rather than on regulators, parents or young people. “In Europe, whoever develops the product is responsible for its safety,” Von der Leyen said.
The EU approach dovetails closely with that of American social scientist Jonathan Haidt, who in his 2024 book The Anxious Generation on youth social media use encouraged governments to require companies to comply with a “duty of care” to “design their services in the ‘best interests’ of children.”
Blanket social media age bans have limits
Industry groups, independent social media researchers and even the authors themselves were quick to caution that age restrictions alone are unlikely to keep children off social media.
The report points to Australia, which in December 2025 instituted a social media ban for under-16s. As many as 85% of young people in Australia have been able to circumvent those bans, according to a 2026 study.
The report says that “recent research indicates that blanket bans on social media+ use may be less effective than often assumed … Overly restrictive approaches may be circumvented or shift risks to less regulated environments.”
However, even if bans alone are ineffective in keeping kids off of platforms, they can generate broader cultural changes within society that can lead to a healthier relationship to social media, according to the report. For example, bans on corporal punishment in Germany and Sweden were difficult to enforce but ultimately reshaped parenting practices.
But not everyone is sold on the two-track approach.
Combining age restrictions with safety-by-design rules “risks creating a complexity trap that platforms will be quick to exploit,” said Jessica Galissaire, senior policy researcher on the digital public sphere at the European tech think tank Interface. Age restrictions for minors, she said, would disincentivize platforms from completely redesigning their platforms to be safe for all ages, which is the optimal policy goal.
“Restricting access only for children weakens the incentive to redesign products, and risks that both platforms and policymakers rest on their laurels,” she said. “Requiring safety for all users would fundamentally change the business case for attention-maximising and exploitative design.”
Questions also remain over how exactly the age verification mechanism would work, and if the scope of the “social media+” category laid out by the Commission would keep youth off of gaming or learning apps, according to Patrick Grady, associate policy director at the Chamber of Progress, a tech industry policy group.
“These spaces support children’s rights to free expression, play, information and education,” he said. “Most concern focuses on specific features from a handful of platforms. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
Trade tensions and fragmentation loom
U.S. Big Tech companies would be the primary targets of any social media age restriction, potentially adding another flashpoint in the bloc’s already strained tech relationship with Washington, according to Arthur Leichthammer, policy fellow in geoeconomics at the Jacques Dolores Centre in Berlin.
“Any regulation or restriction, especially on the digital U.S. giants, is a source of friction that could derail the fragile Turnberry agreement,” he said. “With the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act being the main source of contention with the U.S. at the moment, this could add to perceived threats to the U.S.”
The report also leaves unresolved one of the core questions that prompted the exercise in the first place: whether member states would be allowed to set higher minimum ages than the EU baseline.
Countries including Ireland, Bulgaria, Spain and Luxembourg have proposed or considered bans on social media for under-16s, rather than under-13s as recommended by the report.
“Setting a European minimum age of 13 while leaving each member state free to go further is precisely what creates the regulatory patchwork this report aims to avoid,” said MEP Stéphanie Yon-Courtin (Renew, FR). “We cannot denounce the risk of fragmentation of the digital single market on the one hand, and on the other allow 27 different national thresholds to take hold.”
Instead, Yon-Courtin called for a minimum age requirement of 15 throughout the EU, in-line with what many member states have already considered.
Despite those unresolved questions, lawmakers signaled they are ready to move quickly on any legislative proposal that lands on their desks.
“There is a need for a uniform approach EU-wide, so EU legislation is absolutely necessary,” said MEP Sandro Gozi (Renew, FR). “If there’s really a strong political will, and in the Parliament there is, we can go fast.”
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