European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU could propose new rules as soon as this summer to restrict children’s access to social media, as regulators step up action against platforms over alleged harms to minors.
Speaking at the European Summit on Artificial Intelligence and Children in Copenhagen on Monday, von der Leyen said the Commission had set up a “Special Panel of experts on Child Safety Online” and that a “social media delay” should be considered, depending on the panel’s findings.
She said “almost all” EU Member States were calling for an assessment of the need for a minimum age for social media and that Denmark wanted to introduce one, along with nine other member states, while the European Parliament had reached the same conclusion.
Von der Leyen said the Commission was already taking action against TikTok over what she described as addictive design features such as endless scrolling, autoplay and push notifications, and against Meta over claims that Instagram and Facebook were failing to enforce their minimum age of 13.
Proceedings have also been launched against X over the use of its Grok tool in creating and spreading material depicting child sexual abuse, and investigations are under way into platforms that allow children to be led into “rabbit holes” of harmful content, such as material promoting eating disorders or self-harm, she said.
Age checks and upcoming EU laws
Von der Leyen stated the Commission had developed an age verification app that would “soon” be available and would be rolled out in Denmark by summer, adding that it is designed to work on any device and is open source.
She said the app was built on the model of the European COVID app, which she said was used in 78 countries on four continents, and that the EU was working with Member States to integrate age verification into digital wallets — apps that store official credentials digitally.
An age limit would not remove platforms’ responsibilities for safety, von der Leyen said, citing EU rules under the Digital Services Act, which sets requirements for online platforms, including protections for minors.
She added the Commission planned to target “addictive and harmful design practices” later this year under a Digital Fairness Act, listing “attention capture”, complex contracts and subscription traps among the practices it intends to tackle.
