The European Commission will propose legislation setting a minimum age for social media access after the summer, President Ursula von der Leyen announced Monday in Brussels while presenting an expert report on children's online safety.
The report recommends banning social media for children under 13 and advises that children under three have no screen access at all, citing harms from platform algorithms. Several member states — including Austria, France, Spain, Denmark and Greece — are already pursuing national age limits, with Austria planning to bar children under 14 from social networks.
The European Parliament called for a minimum age of 13 in November 2025 and has asked the Commission to establish an EU-wide threshold by the end of 2026.