European Commission outlines proposed age limits for social media use
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The Facts
- Ursula von der Leyen outlined the proposed EU Kids Act in a speech to the European Parliament.
- The proposal would bar children under 13 from using social media.
- The EU Kids Act would apply across the European Union’s 27 member states.
- The proposal would regulate minors’ access to social media platforms including TikTok and Instagram.
- The EU Kids Act remains a proposal rather than an enacted EU law.
Context
What would the proposed rules mean for children aged 13 and 14?
They could use parent-supervised “mini accounts” designed to limit contact with strangers and overall screen time. NYT
When could young people use an independent social-media account?
The proposal would allow access to a more independent account from age 15. NYT
Who proposed the EU Kids Act?
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, announced it during her State of the European Union speech in Strasbourg. NYT
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Both frame TikTok and Instagram's design toward children under 13 as the real problem the EU Kids Act responds to, not a neutral backdrop.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the under-13 ban is the platforms finally being held to account, or an unproven fix that burdens children's access before their design is scrutinized.
- Why they won’t converge
- The two sides weigh a values divide over where the burden of proof for children's safety should rest: on platforms to prove harmlessness, or on age restrictions to prove necessity.
How left and right read it
Start with who must justify what. Barring everyone under 13 from social media across all 27 member states, as von der Leyen's proposed EU Kids Act would, puts the whole burden on children's access rather than on what TikTok and Instagram are built to do. It remains only a proposal, yet already among the boldest moves to curb children's screen time — so what narrower protection was tried first?
“The act would be one of the biggest policy steps to date in a global movement to limit children's screen time and access to social media.” — The New York Times
Childhood is not raw material for TikTok and Instagram. That is why the under-13 bar von der Leyen outlined to the European Parliament deserves support on its own terms: children that young cannot meaningfully consent to what these platforms ask of them, so a clear line drawn across all 27 member states backs up parents instead of leaving each family to fight the feed alone. It remains only a proposal. Enact it.
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Independent coverage (50)
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