Europe wants children on social media only from age 13, with extensive parental control
The European Commission presented a plan today for a law that would limit children's access to social media. With this, Brussels wants to protect children from the harmful effects of online platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and X. What is known about the legislative proposal?
What does the European Commission want?
That children only have full access to social media from the age of 15. Younger children should no longer be allowed on services like Instagram or TikTok, according to the European Commission. Children may only have an account from the age of 13, if it is up to the lawmakers of the European Union.
That account is then not owned by the children themselves, but by their parents or guardians. This way, they can allow their child to be online on platforms like Facebook or TikTok, but that access is limited. For example, the microphone and camera are switched off by default, so children cannot just make photos, videos, or audio recordings. Only the parent can adjust those settings.
Children may also spend a maximum of one hour per day on it. Or even less, if the parent thinks that is too much. The parent may also decide who the followers or friends of the account are. From age 15, children can create their own account.
The rules will apply to, among others, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and X. Video services such as YouTube will also face stricter rules. WhatsApp is excluded from this law.
How will social media check the age?
Social media are responsible for verifying the age of account owners. They are not allowed by the Commission to use their own system for this but must use other systems.
The companies could do this via age apps. The European Commission wants at least one app to be available in each country with which you can prove you have a certain age without sharing further information.
But the European Commission is also considering other methods. For example, organizations or institutions that can reliably state someone's age could digitally pass that on to the social medium. Think of a bank, the general practitioner, or the school. The idea is that a parent receives a digital statement there. That can be used to create the child account.
It is still unclear which options will be available and how this will work in practice.
Can children bypass that control?
Yes, and the European Commission also takes that into account. But, they say: the point is that we look at social media differently and handle it differently. With these rules, the Commission wants to be much stricter with the companies behind Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and X.
Do social media companies have to do more?
Yes, according to the European Commission. The law plan states that companies must adjust the design of their platforms. Some functions will be banned, such as infinite scrolling to continuously see new photos, posts, or videos. Companies must also take measures so that social media are used less or not at all during school hours or at night.
Also, among others, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and X must from now on demonstrate that they have designed their platform safely. They must document how they have ensured this. If the European Commission is dissatisfied, adjustments can be demanded.
When will the rules come into effect?
That will still take months. The European Commission has now devised how the law should look. But the European Parliament, in which politicians from various countries sit, must still approve it. Also, all 27 countries of the European Union must agree. They will probably still have questions about how the law will work in practice.
CCIA Europe, an organization of large tech companies including Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google (YouTube), also says it is unclear how companies should implement age verification and parental settings in practice. The organization points out, for example, that social media companies must verify with these rules whether parent and child are really family.
If the European Parliament and the 27 member states agree on the final text of the law, the rules can come into force. This will probably happen at the earliest at the end of 2027 or in 2028. At that time, companies must check which accounts belong to children under 15 and disable those.