Europe plans a wide social media ban for children

By Pranob Mehrotra Published July 13, 2026

Europe is taking its biggest step yet toward keeping kids off social media entirely. A panel of experts today handed the European Commission a report recommending sweeping new age restrictions, according to a New York Times report. Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is expected to turn those recommendations into a formal law proposal in September.

The report lays out three tiers for social media access across different age groups. It recommends keeping kids under 3 off screens entirely and banning social media access for kids under 13, unless a parent or teacher is supervising them. Teens between 13 and 18 would still be given access, but only on platforms that build in guardrails against compulsive use, such as limits on infinite scrolling that give feeds a natural stopping point.

The report was authored by child psychiatrist Jörg Fegert and epidemiologist Maria Melchior, who were appointed to the panel by von der Leyen herself. According to Reuters, von der Leyen framed the push in personal terms, saying, “Our children need time in the real world. Time to play, time to build friendships, time to make mistakes. Time to shape their own identity, their own personality, before an algorithm shapes them instead.”

Von der Leyen also pointed to the scale of the problem. European kids are logging four to six hours a day on social media, she said, and close to 60 percent report emotional or psychological struggles tied to their time online. Her comments echo a broader global shift underway, with more than 20 countries now weighing or enforcing their own age limits. Even in the US, where no federal ban exists yet, public support for one is building.

Even if the EU passes a law, keeping kids off social media apps will be challenging. Australia’s under-16 ban, often cited as the model other countries are chasing, has struggled with the same problem. Age checks are easy to fake, and most restricted teens have found workarounds within months.

The EU isn’t just leaning on new legislation to restrict social media use. Regulators are also putting pressure on companies to change what they call the “addictive design” of their platforms. Whether that has more tangible benefits than a straight-up ban is still in question.