EC President Proposes EU-Wide Social Media Age Limit and Age Verification App

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for an EU-wide social media delay for children, warning that addictive design, extreme content, and AI-generated sexualisation are "not by-products" but "the business model" of major tech platforms.

Speaking at the European Summit on AI & Children in Copenhagen, the Commission President said the bloc could come forward with a legal proposal this summer, following advice from a recently established panel of experts on child safety online.

Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President:

"The question is not whether young people should have access to social media. The question is whether social media should have access to young people."

Von der Leyen said childhood and early adolescence are formative years, arguing that children need time to become resilient before being exposed to algorithmic platforms. She acknowledged the benefits of digital learning and online communities, but said the risks have grown alongside them, citing sleep deprivation, depression, anxiety, self-harm, addictive behaviour, cyberbullying, grooming, exploitation, and suicide.

Drawing on research from a Danish children's rights organisation, she said nearly half of the content children see on social media is advertising. She described targeted advertising practices including beauty product adverts pushed to young women the moment they untag themselves in a photo, and games designed to manipulate young men into spending more and more money.

Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President:

"Children are not commodities, and no tech company in the world should be allowed to treat them as such."

The Commission President pointed to ongoing EU enforcement action under the Digital Services Act. She said the EU is taking action against TikTok over its addictive design, and that the same applies to Meta over what she said was a failure to enforce its own minimum age of thirteen on Instagram and Facebook. Proceedings have been launched against X over material depicting child sexual abuse. Cases against Apple and Meta under the Digital Markets Act have already closed, with investigations into Google ongoing.

Almost all EU member states have called for an assessment on the need for a minimum age for social media, with Denmark and nine other member states going further and seeking to introduce one. The European Parliament has reached the same conclusion. Australia has already taken this step, introducing a minimum age of sixteen.

Any age-restriction model would depend on reliable age verification, and Von der Leyen confirmed the EU has developed an open-source age verification app due to roll out in Denmark by summer. It is built on the technology behind the European COVID app, which was used in 78 countries across four continents.

She also previewed the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act, set to target what she described as addictive and harmful design practices including "attention capture, complex contracts, subscription traps" later this year.

Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President:

"We do not have to accept addictive social media design. We do not have to accept children being drawn into ever more extreme content. We do not have to accept that girls and women have their photos used for AI-generated sexualised images."

In a post on X following the address, Von der Leyen wrote:

"Addictive design, extreme content, AI generated sexualisation - these are not by-products. They are the business model. We have the power and duty to protect our children and give them back their childhood."

The full text of her speech is available on the European Commission website.